Chapter 36- Jupiter's encounter with a strange group

Later

Jupiter lay on something soft, like moss. His consciousness was beginning to seep back into him and his vision was beginning to clear. As the world before his eyes began to clarify, starting from blurry shapes that did not make much sense, Jupiter looked up and saw some strange shapes before him. It was as though he was swimming through a dreamy atmosphere. However, he did not feel any raindrops pattering against his face and his feathers felt dryer. Then a voice of one of the shapes echoed in his ears, as though Jupiter were in a large room.

"The scarlet macaw's coming around, Lily."

Jupiter, at this, gazed at the blurry shapes with his still-blurred vision. Some of the shapes appeared bird-shaped for they were brightly coloured and had blobs on their head below a pair of smaller white blobs, indicating faces but a few of the other shapes appeared strange and unrecognisable. One of them was white and did not appear to resemble a bird at all. Two other bizarre and unrecognisable forms stood by the white form. One was reddish and the other dark brown with a white splotch on its front. As Jupiter's vision became clearer, he saw that the shapes had two pointed triangles above a pair of what appeared to be eyes. Ears. Draping down towards the ground on either side of the bodies of the three creatures like cloaks appeared to be wings but they weren't wings made out of feathers. The brightly coloured forms, however, did have feathered wings and were thus indeed birds. As Jupiter's vision continued to clear such that his vision acuity reached its normal, recognition of the three odd forms' species, and type of animal, pricked at him. Confused groans and murmurs escaped his beak and Jupiter's head felt like lead, as though he had been violently thrown against a rock or tree trunk. He tried to move a wing or a talon but felt a painful surge come from the muscles in his limbs. Jupiter's muscles had eased up, a consequence of their rigorous use during his escape from the stream. His wing muscles were not as painful as his talon and leg muscles but Jupiter felt like he had run a marathon entirely on foot. He winced in pain from his aching muscles and continued to groan tiredly. Then he heard some of the shapes speak but they sounded less echoed than a few minutes before.

"To hear that he has managed to crawl out of that rushing stream in your territory Lily, Marcus and Ana is an absolute shock. He could have drowned in a rushing stream like that."

"We found him on the bank of that stream, Fidel, and we deduced that he might have crawled ashore from it. There's no way he could have flown in the rain into our territory based on his sodden plumage and where he lay."

"We didn't have time to deduce how he ended up in our colony's patch, anyway. We had to get him to safety before any of our colony-mates found him and killed him. You know the majority of our colony. They absolutely DESPISE any bird on their territory and will not hesitate to kill them…"

While the forms continued to talk, Jupiter flinched in fright. Colony-mates? 'You know the majority of our colony. They absolutely DESPISE any bird on their territory and will not hesitate to kill them'?

The last sentence made Jupiter's guts turn as a horrible feeling bubbled within him. 'Don't tell me some of these creatures are flying foxes, are they?' he thought. Then Jupiter examined the three forms that had the bizarre, featherless wings and to his horror, he realised that they were. But what was even more surprising was the fact that the other forms were birds. BIRDS!? Jupiter felt utter flabbergast wash over him. 'What is a group of birds doing with some flying foxes!? I thought those flying foxes despised us birds and would kill us on sight,' thought the scarlet macaw. Jupiter was utterly confused and when his eyes, which were able to see clearly by now, examined the feathered forms, he realised that some of them were macaws while a few others were parakeets and some other bird species. However, the macaws Jupiter saw weren't any species of macaw he had heard of or seen. The macaws resembled scarlet macaws but Jupiter noticed that the feathers on their heads faded from red to golden orange or yellow towards the back the fronts of the macaws were a red-orange, similar to the colour of Jupiter's red feathers. The wings of the macaws were various shades of blue but unlike a scarlet macaw which had a yellow band of contours dividing the red from the blue or teal flight feathers, the contours on the wings of these macaws were burgundy and rusty brown. Their tails were red with blue tips and their lower backs were mostly blue. Some of the macaws appeared small, indicating that they were youngsters. Jupiter blinked. These macaws bore a strong resemblance to a certain extinct species of macaw he had seen in a book of birds at Linda's bookstore in Rio. Cuban red macaws!? But those macaws have gone extinct in Cuba well over a century ago. The other birds, however, appeared to be more recognisable species. There was a golden conure standing beside the chocolate brown and white flying fox and a few honeycreepers dotted some sort of perch nearby. Jupiter then thought he saw a wall creeping with snake-like structures and realised he was in some sort of shelter. A tree hollow, perhaps. Suddenly, the deLilyus scarlet macaw flinched in alarm as a membranous wing supported by long fingers was extended from the white form.

"Relax, scarlet macaw," said the creature in a soothing female voice, "You've had a close brush with death."

"We actually thought you'd have drowned when we saw you," said the male reddish creature. Still Jupiter refused to calm down. He was trembling violently and very frightened. He had no idea where he was, or who these creatures were.

"He's seriously scared, Lily," said one of the bizarre macaws.

"I'm not surprised, Fidel," said the white creature, "Our colony is very greatly feared by the majority of birds in the Amazon rainforest because of what they have done to so many bird tribes and clans in the past and what they still do now."

This sent another wave of shock coursing through Jupiter. He had been told time and time again about the dangers of the flying foxes and their murderous attitude towards all birds of the Amazon but these three seemed different from what he had been told. Too different in fact, to believe. Overcome with the utter shock of seeing three flying foxes who appeared to be friends with a group of birds and how sympathetic they were, Jupiter's vision began to blacken again. However, he heard a few of the occupants in the room speak as he slipped into the black world of fainting.

"I don't think he should stay here any longer, Lily, the shock is too much for him. Do you think we should take him back to where he belongs?"

"But it's dark out there, Fidel, can't it wait until morning?"

"I know, leave it to us golden parakeets. We'll take him back. If his family or his tribe know he's missing, they'll be searching for him…"

These were the last words Jupiter heard of this mysterious group before he finally slipped into the world of blackness once again as he fainted in shock.

A while later

The darkness of the starless night continued to shroud the rainforest. The eerie sounds of the nocturnal animals continued to fill the air and a few flecks of light from some fireflies danced over some lakes and in the bush like moving stars, flashing on and off. However, the night time patrol groups from the macaw tribes and clans continued their search for Jupiter in the dark rainforest. In one part of the dark jungle, a small mixed group of blue-throated and green macaws searched the border of the Bluewing Clan and blue-throated macaws' territory to the unprotected land outside. Among the group were Franco, one of Cobalto and Ceres's friends and the captain of the blue-throated macaw clan's Pit of Doom team, and Lewin and Luis, the twin brothers and friends of Esmeralda and Uranus and now Waldo, Sapphire and Mercury. The brothers had opted to join the group on the night search after hearing what devastation Ruby and her family had faced after the apparent demise of Jupiter. As the group of macaws searched along the border of the Blue-throated and Bluewing clans' territory, the leader, an aged male hyacinth named Leonel indicated by streaks of silver strewn through his navy blue plumage and knobbly talons, and one of Demetrio and Violeta's inner circle birds, issued the others a reminder of who they were looking for.

"Remember folks," he said, carrying some sort of lantern on a stick, "We are looking for a burly scarlet macaw, male with a muscular build, vermillion feathers and a flat sheet of feathers on the back of his head."

The lantern was a woven leaf ball containing some fireflies attached by a vine to a stick which the night time patroller sometimes used when searching for lost tribe or clan members. Violeta's grandfather had been the one to devise the idea after seeing the artificial lights humans used to navigate through the jungle at night. Since then, firefly lanterns had been used during night-time searches. Some of the other macaws in the patrol group also had these firefly lanterns. Lewin, Luis and Franco then searched a patch of ferns, Lewin carrying one of the firefly lanterns to provide light for the other two to see the dark patch easily, but found nothing there. Lewin was still in disbelief over Jupiter's demise.

"I still can't believe that that psychotic cockatoo would do such a thing to Ruby's family," he murmured, "The chances of any macaw or non-water bird coming out of a stream of rushing water alive is pretty slim."

"Yeah, absolutely, especially if the flow is choppy," said Luis.

"But at least we have been sent out to keep an eye out for Jupiter in case he did make it out of that stream alive," said Franco, "One of Eduardo's patrol groups has started from where Zephyr and Venus had indicated was where Jupiter and this cockatoo had fallen into the stream and they had searched it as much as possible but could not find anything."

"That stream forks and one of its branches runs into flying fox territory," said Luis. Then a dreadful thought hit him.

"What is it?" asked Lewin. Franco also gazed at the great green macaw. Luis shot them a dark look.

"What if he might have been carried by that stream to the flying fox territory?" he asked. At this, Franco and Lewin's faces fell as their hopes of finding Jupiter began to flow out like sand. Suddenly, a voice of one of the hyacinth macaws, a female, jolted the three out of their thoughts.

"Guys," she called through the dark clutter of vegetation, also carrying a firefly lantern on a stick, "I think we may have found who we are looking for."

At this, Lewin, Luis and Franco looked at each other and flew over to the female hyacinth macaw who was accompanied by two blue-throated macaws.

"What is it, Gloria," asked Leonel as a flurry of flapping wings filled the dark air as the other patrol group members flew over. As soon as the other patrol groups had gathered round, Gloria shone the firefly lantern over the face of a limp body of a macaw. It had vermillion feathers, a flat sheet of feathers on the back of his head and it was a large, burly macaw. Lewin and Luis immediately recognised this macaw. They had seen him with Ruby and their four chicks while they were on an outing with Uranus and his family in their territory and had waved to him.

"That's it," said Lewin, "That's Jupiter."

At this, the group let loose a small cheer that they have finally found who they were looking for. From a nearby bush, a few pairs of eyes peered at the group of macaws. These eyes were awash with gladness that Jupiter had been found for the macaws seemed to know him. Then with a few exchanges of glances at each other as they shared their happiness on a task complete, the cloaked figures left their hiding place, so silently that Leonel's patrol group did not notice them. Next, Leonel checked Jupiter's breathing and pulse.

"He's alive," he said, "But he's unconscious. Let's take him to Felipe's tribe's home."

And with that, he opened his large wings, wrapped his talons around Jupiter's wings and prepared to carry him to Felipe's tribe's territory. Then a few seconds later, Leonel's group had taken off for Felipe's patch, the unconscious Jupiter in tow.

The red tribe's home patch

Ruby and Pearl were perched outside the hole to Cherie's home, watching as Cherie tucked Io and Europa to bed. The four chicks were being shared between Cherie and Tito, with Ganymede and Callisto staying in Tito's hollow not too far away. Ruby watched as Cherie said goodnight to Europa and kissed her on the forehead and sighed. Since Jupiter's plunging into the stream with Nigel, the four chicks had been on edge throughout the afternoon and into the night. Because of this, all four siblings had been too restless to settle down. This was one of the reasons why they had been put under the temporary care of Cherie and Tito as Ruby was too swamped with negative emotions and heartbreak over Jupiter's loss to care for the chicks at the moment. Overhead, the sky was cloudy and the moon and stars were screened from view, but small flashes of thunder loomed in the distance, implying another thunderstorm.

"Those two, and Ganymede and Callisto as well, have been awake WELL past the time they should be in bed, Pearl," murmured Ruby wearily. The pressure release through her sobbing had made her feel better but the heartbreak over Jupiter's loss still remained on her heart. But then Ruby felt an utter wave of disgust.

"At least Nigel will be enjoying his accomplishment of inflicting this deep wound on us by doing this to Jupiter," she growled bitterly.

"Nigel will be enjoying this?" asked Pearl in confusion.

"He was that infamously sadistic cockatoo who loved to torture exotic birds, Pearl," said Ruby, "I haven't told you much about him, have I?"

Pearl shook her head to confirm it, so Ruby began to explain what Nigel's involvement in the events of the past two days had been about.

"Nigel used to be a star bird until a parakeet replaced him, leading him to detest exotic birds and join a group of smugglers so that he could take his wrath out o0n them by abusing them. He actually enjoys abusing those poor birds. Anyway, during the past few days, Nigel wanted to devastate Venus and Mercury and their chicks by killing Zephyr and Sapphire respectively like how he had done to them when he killed their families when they were only a few months old. Also, he wanted revenge on Blu and Jewel for crippling his ability to fly. I haven't met him that much but based on Blu's account of that cockatoo's following him and his family into the Amazon, it seems that revenge had been on his mind even before he met those poachers. Anyway, when Nigel's plans didn't go according to plan, Nigel eventually lost his temper and his mind, and as a consequence, a few of us suffered. Several of our cat and dog friends back in Rio had been at the mercy of that cockatoo's wrath and as a result got injured: one of our cat friends has suffered a broken bone in his paw while trying to protect Carla, Bia and Tiago while we were out and the intruders attacked, and his mother and one of our greyhound friends have been badly injured…"

Pearl winced when Ruby mentioned what had happened to Broccoli. "That cockatoo must have been some barbaric piece of work," she said.

"He was," murmured Ruby, "He absolutely was. He was completely obsessed with revenge till the very end," Ruby then gazed at Io and Europa as they slept in the nest in Cherie's hollow, Cherie looking over them. As Ruby told Pearl about Nigel, she felt the burden on her heart lighten. "But I believe Nigel will have devastated countless exotic birds he has tortured and abused during his time as a smuggler's cockatoo. Sadly, Mercury and Venus had been two of them. I just hope I and my chicks are the last ones to be devastated…"

"Oh, Ruby," murmured Pearl sympathetically. A tear then ran down Ruby's cheek as she felt like crying again. Suddenly, the two sisters were jolted by a loud squawk that shattered the quiet, followed by a flurry of many wings and a few shouts. At this, they looked into the night air and saw many shadowy figures of macaws flying out of their home hollows and converging to a specific spot. At this, Ruby looked at Pearl while Cherie poked her head out of her hollow.

"What's going on?" asked Cherie.

"I don't know but it sounds serious," said Ruby and with that, she and Pearl opened their wings and took off. Cherie, at this, looked back at Io and Europa in the nest before following the two sisters. In the hollow belonging to the red tribe's leaders, Felipe emerged from the entrance when he heard a loud squawk. He had just put his chicks Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso to bed and had come out to gaze at the night hanging over his tribe's home when he was alerted by the noise. Then next, he heard the flurry of many wings and saw the shadows of some of his tribe members fly and converge to a specific spot. Then he heard someone shout, "Someone get Felipe, and Ruby and Pearl! Jupiter's been found!"

At this, the tribe patriarch froze and listened to the shout. The moment he heard the name 'Jupiter', hope flared within him and he opened his wings and took off. At the point where the red tribe converged, some shadowy figures carrying balls of light on sticks approached the group of scarlet and green-winged macaws. It were Leonel and his group and in Leonel's talons was a bundle of vermillion, teal and yellow feathers and muscle. As the scarlet and green-winged macaws touched down on the branches nearest to Leonel and his group, Leonel gently placed Jupiter onto a large branch. As soon as he had done this, the aged hyacinth macaw backed away and stood with his patrol group, including Franco from the blue-throated macaw clan and Lewin and Luis from the green tribe. Then seconds later, Felipe's voice sounded.

"Excuse me, out of my way, thanks," he said to his tribe members and they all parted to let him through. Felipe then landed beside Jupiter who wearily gazed back at him with half-open eyes. The moment he saw that the missing scarlet macaw was alive; Felipe pulled Jupiter into a tight and relieved hug just as Ruby and Pearl appeared. When she saw her mate alive and well, Ruby cried, "Jupiter!"

At this, Jupiter looked up after breaking the hug with Felipe who moved out of the way. "Ruby?" he moaned tiredly. At this, he was pulled into a tight hug with his relieved mate. Ruby had never felt so relieved in such a long time. As she hugged him, Ruby's eyes streamed with tears while the red macaws congratulated Leonel and his patrol group.

"Where did you find him?" asked Felipe, "I-I-I thought he fell into a stream."

"We found him in a patch of ferns in the jungle," said Leonel, "How he ended up there is anybody's guess but at least we've found him."

"We're gonna have to let the other tribe and clan leaders know that Jupiter has been found and get them to call their patrol groups back," said Lewin.

"Right, you do that and we'll take care of Jupiter," said Felipe, "Thank you so much for bringing him back to us."

And with that, he shared a hug with Leonel and then with some of the other patrol members including Lewin, Luis and Franco. Pearl then came in and thanked them as did Ruby. Then after receiving more thank-yous from some more red macaws as well as goodnights, Leonel took off and led the patrol group away into the darkness and towards the territory of the green macaw tribe to drop off the green macaws first. Jupiter looked up as the macaws left but he was soon pulled into a passionate kiss by Ruby. This jolted him out of his tiredness and made him realise where he was. After Ruby broke the kiss with him, Jupiter began to look around.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're back in our tribe's home," said Ruby, tears of relief streaming down her face. At this, Jupiter shook his head in disbelief. But then he began to shudder as the dam holding the shock of being bowled into by Nigel and dropped into the stream began to break by a flood of memories of the deranged cockatoo's murderous face, the swirling water and his floundering in the current. Furthermore, his muscles were aching and his feathers were still wet though not sodden.

"You need to be taken to our tribe nurses to be checked over now," said Pearl firmly. Jupiter, at this, tried to get up but Felipe stopped him.

"No, we'll carry you there," he said, "I can see you're exhausted and you might be too exhausted to fly."

"Actually," said Jupiter, "My muscles are aching, especially those in my legs…"

"I wouldn't be surprised," said Pearl, "You must have struggled against the current of that stream and perhaps had to fly super-fast to get out of those deranged bats' territory since that branch of the stream leads right into their turf…"

Jupiter, at this, widened his eyes but then tiredness swamped him and he fell back down against the branch. Felipe nodded to some macaws nearby.

"Take him to the tribe nurses," he said. The macaws obeyed, flew over to Jupiter and gently picked him up. Soon, Jupiter was carried away in the direction of the tribe nurses' hollow. Ruby followed closely behind. Then the shouts of four young chicks sounded. "Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad!" At this, Ruby turned and saw Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto flit towards Jupiter with Cherie and Tito close behind. The latter two must have awakened them with the good news and now the four chicks were eager to see their father again. However, they were stopped by Felipe and some of the other macaws.

"Wait until he's in the tribe nurses' hollow, my four nieces and nephew," he said firmly. At this, the four chicks obeyed and flew over to Ruby. Then moments later, Jupiter was taken into the hollow of the tribe nurses and placed onto a bed of moss by his carriers. After this, the macaws stood back to allow Felipe, Ruby, Pearl, and Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto in. Four of the tribe nurses, one of which was named Tomas, a green-winged macaw and the leader of the medical group, came forward to assess Jupiter. Jupiter then tiredly looked up at them. When he saw Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto rush towards him, he shakily raised a wing and shared a hug with them. However, the hug didn't last long.

"Come on, kids," said Pearl gently, "You need to leave your father to be treated and to get some rest."

"Yes," said Felipe, "It's way past your bed time, anyway."

At this, the four chicks gave their father one final gaze. Io breathed a relieved sigh and left. Then Europa whispered a, "I love you, Daddy. Glad that you have been brought back," and followed her sister. Ganymede then followed and Callisto paused to look at Jupiter one last time before finally leaving. After this, Ruby and Pearl followed them. Only Felipe remained and he stayed behind for a little longer as Tomas and the other three examined Jupiter. After a little while, Tomas gave the report on Jupiter's health.

"He's very tired, got fatigued muscles," said Tomas, "And also a healed cut on his leg. He's also shaken but he'll be fine."

"He may have to stay here for a couple of days at least," said a female tribe nurse, a scarlet macaw. Felipe then walked over to Jupiter as his eyes then slid shut as tiredness had overtaken him once again.

"He should get some rest anyway," whispered the scarlet macaw patriarch, "I'll come back in the morning with Ruby and his kids. Till, then, look after him."

Tomas and the other three tribe nurses nodded and with that, Felipe left the hollow and returned to his own hollow, leaving the four tribe nurses to look after Jupiter, who was now asleep, for the night.