Chapter 26- the first macaws from the Sanctuary de Amazon get caught
Cazador, Bryony, Aliana, Xerosic, Cometa, Swoop and the other crows continued to fly into the Amazon in search of the Lear's, the Spix and the glaucous macaw tribes. At the same time, Travis and his family had entered the Spix macaws' territory while Porthos and his family and Ariel had managed to find the territory of the blue-and-gold tribe. Back at the starting point, Lysandre and his gang continued searching for any birds or animals that might enter the deforested area. Lysandre's underlings were pacing around the perimeter scanning the bordering trees and vegetation for any flash of movement and colour. However, they were soon to net their first birds for a small group of macaws were flying in their location's direction.
The group of macaws, which consisted of two Spix macaws and a few red macaws were flying through the trees. The two Spix macaws were a blue male with the unmistakable set of head feathers and a cerulean female with a blue-white head similar to Zephyr while the red macaws were a green-eyed male scarlet macaw, three fledgling scarlet macaw chicks and a green-winged macaw. Roberto, Brisa and Felipe were on an outing with Felipe and Pearl's three chicks, and one of Felipe's inner circle birds, a male green-winged macaw named Enrique. Pearl was back in the red macaw tribe to keep an eye on things while Felipe took their chicks out for an outing with Roberto and Brisa with Enrique to help and keep an eye on the chicks. Pearl and Felipe's three chicks, named Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso were around six months old. They hatched a few weeks after the fire and were now young chicks. The three chicks all looked alike but their appearances will diverge as they grew older. Like all scarlet macaws, their feathers were mostly red and their wings had blue wing flight feathers and yellow contours between the blue and red. Their tails were blue with red tips. Benjamin had green eyes like his father while Alfonso had blue eyes like his mother but darker. Regina's eyes were teal, similar to Jewel's eyes. Felipe's green eyes flashed with pride and joy at the three chicks as they flew alongside Enrique.
"Boy, I'm so glad to have become a father at last," he said, Roberto and Brisa smiling as they watched the chicks playfully chase each other, "Soon, those three will be truly showing our inherited features."
"Zephyr and Aurora's chicks all looked alike before their appearances started diverging," said Brisa, "So did Blu and Jewel's chicks."
"I wonder how Blu and the others are doing in Rio," said Roberto in wonder.
"Have you ever thought having chicks yet, Roberto?" asked Enrique, briefly stealing glances at the three chicks as they flew around the four adults.
"Yes but when I find a mate," said Roberto, "But when I do, I think some of my chicks would likely inherit my head feathers and singing voice."
"I wouldn't be surprised," said Felipe with a cheeky smile, "But if your sons look like you, I'd probably never tell who's who."
The group tittered at Felipe's cracking sense of humour and his speaking in rhymes. Then Felipe shouted, "Oi, Regina, join our group please! We don't want you getting lost."
The teal-eyed chick, Regina obeyed and returned to Enrique's side.
Soon, the trees cleared and the surroundings opened into a clearing as the group entered a deforested area. As soon as they did, the group perched onto a tree to rest. Regina, Benjamin and Alfonso joined Felipe's side and Felipe wrapped his wings around them. Roberto smiled at the three chicks. Because he and Felipe were now best friends, formerly bitter enemies, Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso were like nephews and a niece to him and the three chicks treated Roberto like an uncle like how Carla, Bia and Tiago, and Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil did. Brisa then gazed into the distant sky. Dark clouds seemed to loom.
"Looks like rain again," she said, "I hope any humans out here are prepared for it."
"Yeah, we'd better not be out here for too long," said Roberto, his wing slung around Brisa. Then Enrique gazed out into the opening.
"This is where those pesky loggers had been," he said, "It's horrifying to believe that their activities could cause this much damage to our jungle home. No wonder the Azul Oscuro hyacinth Clan had been decimated when loggers came and destroyed their trees."
"At least our home is now safe from logging and poaching now," said Roberto, "Thanks to Blu."
The others nodded in agreement. Then Benjamin looked down at the ground in the clearing.
"Hey, Dad," he squeaked, "There are some humans about."
Felipe, Roberto, Brisa and Enrique followed his gaze and saw several white and pale blue forms walking around in the clearing. There were also three large things standing in the clearing which Roberto remembered Blu telling him were called helicopters.
"I think those humans are ecologists," said Brisa, "Nothing to worry about."
"Wait, they're armed," said Roberto. He felt a little uneasy when he saw the stick things in the hands of the humans, but he felt sure that they had the stick things, which were net guns, for a good reason. After all, the humans that came to the nature reserve were well-meaning. "They must be looking for any animal that may be injured or something, to take back and treat."
Then Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso took off from Felipe's side and fluttered away into the clearing, giggling like most young chicks.
"Kids, don't go too far," called Felipe to his two sons and daughter. The three chicks nodded and began to playfully chase each other. Then Brisa said, "I hope Blu and company, including my brother Zephyr, sister-in-law Aurora and my nephews and nieces, are having a good time with our old cat and dog friends and meeting our other old friends like Nico and Pedro…"
"You told me that Ginger is now the mate of your friends' greyhound friend," said Roberto with a happy smile. His smile then faded a little. "I always remember her each night. I'm so grateful to her for allowing me to escape that nightmarish treatment of that little girl…"
He then shuddered as the memories of 'Polly wanna cracker? Polly wanna cracker?' repeated in his mind and the images of cream crackers being forced down his throat, among other horrible things. Roberto then gazed at the ring on his right leg which he often kept tucked away in his upper leg feathers to hide his history as a captive bird. It was the only souvenir he had left of his time under the ownership of that cruel girl but it always made him shiver and trigger a flood of memories to boil in his mind whenever he looked at it.
Enrique continued watching Felipe's chicks as they continued flying around in the clearing air.
"We've got to get that thing off," said Felipe with sympathy as he looked at the ring on Roberto's ankle. The ring was chipped and damaged, the result of years of Roberto's futile attempts of trying to get it off his ankle.
"But I've tried everything," muttered Roberto, "Gnawing at it, using a rock to break it…"
"Maybe we could take you to our human friends," said Brisa, "They'll have something to remove that ring from your leg."
Roberto shot her a timid glare. He never liked being handled by human hands but seeing no other option of getting rid of the last bit of his time in captivity and abuse from the human girl, he nodded in agreement.
"We'll take you to a group of them when we get time," said Felipe. Roberto flashed him a grateful glance. Then Brisa turned and watched Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso as they continued flying about.
"I assume you were excited at seeing your chicks fly for the first time, weren't you, Felipe?" she asked.
"I certainly was," said Felipe proudly, "Seein' them paintin' the sky; it sure is exciting to see them fly."
"Seeing Athos and Ruby's chicks Alexandre, Poinsettia and Spinel fly for the first time was just as exciting, the same with the other chicks," said Brisa. "They'll be meeting their new cousins by the time they return from Rio once summer ends."
Felipe, Roberto and Enrique nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Felipe and Pearl's three chicks continued chasing each other playfully in the air, being careful not to lose sight of the four adults.
"I'm gonna get you, sis," crooned Benjamin mischievously as he chased Regina around the branches. Regina giggled cheekily and continued flying ahead of her brother. Alfonso was also chasing his sister, determined to catch her. The three chicks were not far from the group of humans as they continued examining the trees. However, the three chicks were completely unaware that they were about to fly close to a trap. As the three young scarlet macaws continued flying around directly above two of the humans dressed in outdoor scientist clothing and carrying net guns, one of the humans looked upward and saw three small red birds darting about in the trees.
"John!" she called. At his name's call, her companion, John, whipped around and saw the three red chicks.
"Yeah, we're gonna give Ruby and Athos a big surprise," said Felipe, "I can't wait to see the thrilled look in their eyes."
"They're now an aunt and uncle to two nephews and a niece," said Brisa.
"They certainly are," said Roberto. Enrique did not say anything for his eyes were busily focussed on Felipe's three chicks when suddenly, horror tore through him. Then a bang exploded and reached the ears of the other three, making them jump and jerk their heads in the direction of the sound's source. A split second later, Enrique's wings were spread out and he was off the perch in three seconds flat. When Felipe, Roberto and Brisa saw Enrique fly off in the direction of the chicks, they also took off after him but nothing could prepare them for what they heard next. When Felipe heard the sounds of the chicks screaming, horror exploded within him.
"BENJAMIN, REGINA, ALFONSO!" he screeched loudly and accelerated on by beating his wings harder. Roberto and Brisa also flapped harder when they sensed dread regarding Felipe's chicks. But as Felipe's eyes landed on the three chicks on the ground with netting around them, several bangs were heard.
"LOOK OUT!" Enrique blurted out. Roberto and Brisa shot their glances this way and that and before they even knew it, a spider-web like net suddenly came in and entangled them! The two Spix macaws cried in shock as they were caught together in a single net. As Roberto and Brisa fell out of the air, another net flew in and caught Enrique, leaving Felipe who continued flying towards his netted chicks. As he touched down by his two sons and daughter who wore frightened looks on their faces, Felipe only had seconds to register what was going on when suddenly, something jumped in and pounced onto him. Felipe cried in shock as he was then pinned down against the black soil with something on his head. When he looked up, he found himself gazing into the eyes of a feline animal never found out here in the Amazon. It was definitely a feline but it was too small to be a margay. Further, its fur was black and white, a combination of colours also never found on a margay or other small wildcat Felipe had seen, and its eyes were brown. The creature had pounced onto Felipe with his paw on the red macaw's head.
"Hah, gotcha, red macaw," crooned the creature named Otis. Felipe, stunned and utterly confused, shuddered. Then he heard another human voice speak.
"Well done, you two, especially you, John," it said, "Now let's get these birds caged. What a stroke of luck that some of the macaws had flown to our location."
Then a horrible thought crossed Felipe's mind but then he found himself picked up by the neck by Otis and carried away. Then the next thing, the seven birds found themselves being shoved into cages. Brisa was tossed into one cage followed by Roberto while Enrique and the three chicks were thrown into another cage. Brisa and Roberto wore confused looks on their faces as their cage door was then slammed shut and padlocked.
"What in the world!?" growled Brisa but when her lime green eyes landed on some familiar creatures her feathers bristled in disgust. Roberto also followed her gaze. He was very frightened and his crest feathers were spiked out all over the place. It was then that the two Spix macaws were met with a scornful feline face.
"Bad move, you two," crooned the face which belonged to Tom, one of the cats, "Looks like you and your red friends are the first to be captured."
When these words were absorbed by Brisa's brain, horror and dread tore through her explosively.
"WHAT!?" she shouted, "What did you mean we're the first to be captured!?"
But then Brisa felt recognition creep into her and the moment it did, her look of shock and horror morphed to one of rage. Roberto's face remained in its frightened expression.
"Wait, are you-!?" shouted Brisa furiously but before Tom could scornfully reply, there was commotion erupting from behind the cat.
"Adriana, get a hold of that scarlet macaw!" shouted a cat's voice. Brisa turned and saw a pile of cats and crows trying to restrain a certain scarlet macaw but the macaw was viciously fighting back, his green eyes ablaze like firestorms.
"You are NOT caging me, you rotten furballs!" snarled Felipe and with that, he jumped up and kicked Paws in the face. Paws was sent flying into one of Lysandre's underlings' stomach as the underling ran in to help, knocking the human down. Felipe then wing-slapped two more cats including Adriana, and a few crows and head-butted another but the cats and crows continued pouncing in. Two more cats and a crow stood with an empty cage ready for when Felipe was caught.
"Felipe!" cried Roberto. Felipe continued fighting off the cats and crows when suddenly, a pair of human hands appeared and wrapped around his body, scooping him off the ground. Another of Lysandre's underlings had grabbed him.
"Now cage it," shouted Lysandre from the background. Nigel looked on, ready to dive in. The underling then tried to shove Felipe into the cage held by the two cats and the crow but the enraged scarlet macaw was not going to allow this without a fight. With an enraged squawk, Felipe flapped madly and sank his beak in to the underling's hands, making the underling scream in agony and release the scarlet macaw. Then Felipe began to viciously apply his talons and beak full force. Screams of agony exploded from the underling's mouth as Felipe's talons and beak mercilessly sank into or raked over his skin. Cats and crows tried to help by jumping at Felipe but they were either knocked back by a flapping wing or struck by the underling's head as he flailed helplessly to get Felipe off his back. From another cage, Enrique, Regina, Benjamin and Alfonso looked on in horror as they were placed next to Roberto and Brisa.
"Dad!" cried the chicks together. Felipe continued clawing the underling until suddenly, three black streaks darted in and knocked Felipe off the underling's back. Felipe cried in shock as he was then flung to the ground and pinned by the neck by a black talon. Felipe then struggled to force the crows off his but then a fourth bird, an ugly grey-white cockatoo came in and forcefully clamped his talon around Felipe's neck so tightly that he cut off his breathing. Brisa got a glimpse of the grey-white bird with the pale yellow crest.
"Don't tell me that's who I think it is," she growled. Roberto, Enrique, Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso were too frightened to speak and continued looking on as the cockatoo then began to taunt Felipe.
"Hello, pretty bird," crooned the cockatoo named Nigel sadistically as he watched Felipe struggle for breath. Felipe winced in revulsion as Nigel's saliva dripped disgustingly onto his face and a whiff of his foul breath entered his nostrils. Then Lysandre came in with a cage.
"Now cage it," he commanded. Nigel smiled and in an instant, Felipe was picked up off the ground by the cockatoo and thrusted hard into the cage. Then two cats came in and padlocked it. As Felipe collapsed onto the cage floor, forcing in breaths after being strangled by Nigel as the two cats placed him by Brisa and Roberto, Brisa shot confused glances at the humans, the cats, crows and the cockatoo.
"Well done, my underlings," said Lysandre, "We have caught our first few macaws including two Spix macaws. Now let's place them next to our other caught birds."
"Other caught birds?" asked Roberto timidly. Brisa was too clouded by confusion to register what Lysandre meant. These people were supposed to be ecologists or animal doctors looking for injured animals. Instead, they are poaching them!? Then the two Spix macaws were tossed aside as their cage was lifted off the ground by one of Lysandre's underlings. Not too far away, Blu and Jewel, Aurora and Levi and their families all looked around.
"What was that noise?" asked Lapis Lazuli.
"Sounded like some of the poachers struggling with something," said Zephyr. However, the others felt dread wash over them, especially Blu and Jewel. In their hiding place behind the tree stump, Catina, Aramis, D'Artagnan, Phoebe and their families had also heard the commotion. Aramis had managed to escape being caged with Phoebe, Cobalto, Zebedee and Indigo the moment Dash had pulled the focus of Otis and his group and the crows away from them, buying them time to escape.
"What's happening?" asked D'Artagnan suspiciously, all eyes of the group gazing at the group of poachers as they walked towards the helicopters where Blu's group was. Catina then noticed something in three cages carried by some of the underlings of Lysandre. Curious, she tried to get a better glimpse of the flashes of colour in those cages. But when she saw that the flashes of colour were red macaws in two of the cages and a pair of blue macaws in the other cage, the calico drew in a horrified gasp.
"They've already caught some of the macaws!" she cried. Phoebe, Cobalto, Aramis, Esmeralda, D'Artagnan and Sapphire then gazed at the birds in the cages and realised that three of them were familiar. The moment Cobalto recognised the scarlet macaw on his own in a separate cage; he opened his wings and was about to take off but a cat paw appeared and grabbed his tail.
"Don't go flying toward the caged birds," commanded Catina and with that, she pulled Cobalto back behind the tree stump, "You'd end up captured."
"But it's Felipe," cried Cobalto, "He's been caught, and so have Roberto and Brisa!"
"Felipe?" asked Catina confused.
"He's the leader of the red macaw tribe," explained Esmeralda, "And Roberto is from the Spix macaw tribe and the one Ginger told us about was abused by that human girl before she helped him escape."
Aramis then stole a glance at the newly caged birds as they were placed among Blu's group and gazed back at Catina. "Looks like he, Roberto and Brisa and some friends of his were going on an outing but ended up getting caught by the poachers."
Catina frowned.
"Then we need to rescue them and our other caged feathered friends as well," she said, "And also free Dash and the others, but the question is, how?"
Aramis, Esmeralda, Phoebe, Cobalto, D'Artagnan and Sapphire looked on as the calico then began to think of a plan. The chicks Chlorophyll, Petunia, Carla, Bia, Tiago (who were horrified that Roberto and Brisa had been caught), Zebedee, Indigo, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette also looked on, worried for their friends.
Back with Blu's group, Blu, Jewel, Zephyr, Aurora, Lapis Lazuli, Levi and the chicks with them gazed in horror as Roberto and Brisa, Felipe, and Enrique, Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso were placed by them in their cages.
"Felipe!?" shouted Jewel incredulously.
"Brisa, Roberto!" shouted Zephyr. Aurora, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil looked on in horror. Then Brisa shot Zephyr, Blu, Jewel and the others a shocked glare.
"Blu, Jewel, Zephyr bro…?" she began aghast, "What-!?"
Felipe, however, had an enraged look.
"You oughta tell us what is going on, you lot!" he growled, "Question: what are you lot doing in cages? And follow up if I may; why have we been captured the way poachers catch birds!?"
"I thought our homes were protected from logging and poaching!" put in Enrique, occasionally shooting Felipe's three chicks a glance, "Why have we got poachers afoot!?"
"I'm sorry, we d-d-didn't expect a group of humans to be p-p-planning to do something like this when we went to Rio," stammered Blu obviously frightened by the green flames in Felipe's eyes, remembering their last encounter when Blu accidentally stepped into Felipe's tribe's territory. Felipe's enraged glare was as freezing as Eduardo's. "You see…"
"We see what?" snapped Felipe bitterly, cutting Blu off. Blu then found himself hitting a brick wall when his tongue stuck in his mouth and his brain refused to formulate a proper answer. Blu did not work well under pressure and was prone to panicking. Seeing Blu struggle, Lapis Lazuli spoke on his behalf.
"It's a long and complicated story," she said. Felipe was about to snap when suddenly, an oily voice crooned, cutting him off.
"To answer your question, pretty bird," crooned the voice's owner, Nigel as he and several taunt-faced cats sauntered towards Felipe, Brisa and Roberto, and Enrique who had his wings protectively around the frightened Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso, "These poachers have come up with an ingenious plan to get by the barrier preventing poachers and loggers from entering the Sanctuary de Amazon to poach pretty birds like you lot, and that is by disguising as ecologists and tricking the real ecologists into thinking they are just another group of bird studiers who want to help them in the Sanctuary de Amazon."
"Pretty nifty idea eh?" crooned Otis. The other cats laughed. Close by, Ginger and Daisy, who had also heard and seen the poachers manage to capture Roberto, Brisa, Felipe, Enrique and the three chicks, stood at a safe distance and watched as Nigel and the cats taunted the newly caught birds. Felipe then tipped his head to one side in confusion at the terminology.
"Can someone give a simplified explanation of what this gross cockatoo means, please?" he asked, turning to Aurora, Levi and their families, Blu and Jewel.
"Nigel is saying that these poachers have found a way to get into the Sanctuary de Amazon and that is by pretending to be ecologists," said Aurora despite the fright caused by being in a cage at the clutches of poachers making her shudder. When they heard this, Roberto and Brisa flinched in disgust.
"Are you meaning to say that this group of humans are actually poachers pretending to be conservationists?" asked Brisa in utter flabbergast.
"Exactly, Brisa," said Levi. Brisa then looked this way and that before gazing back at the male glaucous macaw.
"But I thought that poaching had stopped in this area," she growled, "Then why have we got these pesky animal thieves prowling around like other poachers before our home was set up as a sanctuary?"
Roberto, who was beginning to experience a cascade of bad memories of his capture by poachers and smuggling to Rio then began to show signs of panic come over him.
"Well, however these poachers have managed to find a way to intrude into this protected nature reserve," said Enrique, "I hope the real ecologists are alerted so that these phony ecologists are caught before they capture any more macaws or other animals."
"I'm afraid it won't happen, red macaw," crooned Nigel wickedly, "Those real bird ecologists believe that Lysandre's group are a another group of ecologists that have come here to help out, so there is no way they are gonna be caught."
And with that, he let loose a snicker. The cats did the same. Roberto then began to shake. His breathing and heartbeat increased dramatically, and his blue eyes began to dart this way and that as though he wanted to escape. His crest feathers were also spiked out all over the place. Then Felipe shot Nigel a fiery glare.
"Get away from us this minute, you foul crested parrot or whatever you are," growled the scarlet macaw bitterly, his feathers spiked out and his body poised to attack, "Or I'll give you a right clawin'."
Nigel boldly stepped up to Felipe despite the latter's defensive pose and shoved his beak up to the scarlet macaw's thunderous face, not caring about the risk he was facing.
"I'm afraid it won't happen until you're with a cruel owner, pretty bird," crooned the cockatoo spitefully. Suddenly Felipe jumped up and raked his talons across Nigel's face, releasing an enraged squawk in the process. Nigel was thrown to one side onto the floor, his tattered wing clasped on his head as cats surrounded Felipe and tried to restrain him but the enraged scarlet macaw was not having any of it.
"When I get outa here, you loathsome BUNCH OF PESTS," snarled he as he began to madly flap and flail in his cage like a fish in a net, lashing his talons at any cat paw that entered the cage, "I'm gonna CLAW YOU LIKE PIECES OF FRUIT!"
Felipe then lurched forward and slammed into the cage door, making the cats closest to him jump back.
"These wild birds sure are gonna be hard to handle," said Moggy as she was frightened by Felipe's temper. While the cats continued attempting to restrain Felipe with some crows coming to help, Otis, Tom and Adriana inspected Nigel who had his wing on his face. Nigel then looked up and removed his wing, exposing a fresh set of claw marks on his face. As before blood oozed out of the streaks left by Felipe's claws. However, Nigel was unfazed by the scratch across the face, but his face certainly was becoming riddled with claw marks. The sets inflicted on him by Jewel, Esperanza and a while later, Athos had healed up but now they were opened up in places as a result of Felipe's swipe. As Nigel stood up, he was met with the scornful looks from Blu and Jewel who smiled at the state of his face but an extremely enraged Brisa and a frightened Roberto.
"You certainly are getting a nice facelift from those scratches, vulture face," crooned Jewel nastily, "One of these days, you're gonna be called Scarface."
"I think 'Cocks 'Scarface' Cockatoo' would be a better name for him, don't you think," crooned Blu spitefully. Then the couple laughed scornfully while Levi and Aurora shot them an irritated glare. Like Athos and the other five, these two found Blu and Jewel's constant mockery of Nigel annoying. Nigel then shot his two nemeses a hateful look.
"Just wait until we get to the sorting stage, you two pretty birds," he growled, "Then we'll see who's humiliated and who's laughing now."
"Don't count on it, vulture face," snapped Jewel bitterly. Ignoring her, Nigel turned to Zephyr, Aurora, Lapis Lazuli and Levi and their chicks with a sadistic, menacing look on his face, especially towards Levi and Aurora as terror at the sight of the hideous cockatoo consumed them once again.
"As for you two," he crooned to them, "I can't wait to see the looks on your faces when I carry out my plans on your beloved mates."
"If you're thinking of harming any of those valuable Spix and glaucous macaws, Nigel," said Otis firmly, "You've got another thing coming. Remember what Cazador said…"
Nigel snapped his glance from Levi and Aurora to the black and white cat, his eyes ablaze with anger and defiance.
"I don't care WHAT that falcon says, cat," he snarled. While he talked with Otis, Ginger and Daisy picked up a large leaf and a stone they had found in their hiding place. Ginger then placed the stone into the leaf and prepared to twirl it above her head like a slingshot.
"I am definitely gonna kill that pigtailed Spix macaw and turquoise glaucous macaw's mates right in front of them," bellowed Nigel furiously, towering over Otis with his crest raised, "If I devastated them once by killin' their parents and siblings when they were chicks, I can DEVASTATE them AGAIN by killin' their mates..."
Otis murmured timidly as he fell over onto his back as he backed away from him. It was obvious that the black and white cat knew that Nigel had lost his mind now, completely. The other cats and crows looked on warily in case Nigel lost his temper and lashed at Otis. Then Ginger twirled the leaf containing the stone above her head twice and then flung the stone in the direction of Nigel and the cats with all her might. Ginger had intended the stone to be a diversion so that Daisy could rush out and snaffle one of the cages, and not hit one of the cats, crows or Nigel but instead, it went flying towards Nigel like a light grey comet and clouted him on the head! The cockatoo released a squawk of painful surprise and fell onto his back, making the cats and crows flinch and wonder what had happened. Ginger flinched with a gasp when she watched this but Daisy got poised to leap into action anyway. However, Catina's group had also been watching and when they saw what had happened to Nigel, Catina immediately sent in Phoebe to retrieve one of the cages.
The moment all the cats and crows' attention was pulled away from the caged birds as they ran over to inspect Nigel as he lay on the floor with his wings on his head where the stone had hit, Phoebe darted in like a navy blue rocket with large wings. She made a beeline for Levi and his family's cage and within seconds wrapped her talons around the bars. She then rocketed off back towards Catina's hiding place with Levi and his family in tow. Daisy and Ginger then rushed out of their hiding place and made a beeline for Catina's hiding place. On the way, Daisy was about to snatch Blu and Jewel's cage but then noticed the cats and crows begin to look up. Not wanting to get caught like her father, brother and sister, she followed Ginger and disappeared behind the tree stump.
As Nigel stood up, his wing on a new injury: a bump on the head where the stone had hit, Otis began to look around.
"Where on earth did that come from?" he asked. He then shrugged it off and turned back to Nigel. The caged birds also looked around.
"What was that?" asked Brisa.
"And where are Levi and his family?" asked Blu when he noticed that the glaucous macaws were missing. However, he had already deduced that they had been snatched by someone from Catina's group. Jewel, Aurora, Roberto, Felipe, Enrique and all the chicks just said nothing. Then as soon as Nigel was up on his feet, he and the cats and crows returned to guard duty. Behind the tree stump, Aramis had unlocked the padlock with his screwdriver and had freed Levi and his family. Lapis Lazuli was particularly glad to be out of that cage, as were Tristan, Quincy, Trixie and Larimar. Catina was sharing a brief reunion hug with Ginger and Daisy.
"Boy, I've been looking forward to this," Lapis LOazuli said with relief, "Glad to be out of that piece of junk."
"What do you want us to do, Catina?" asked Levi who was also particularly glad to be away from Nigel. However, he was still shaken from the whole ordeal. Catina broke the hug with Ginger and Daisy and turned to her.
"I want you to try and locate Dash and the others and free them," she said, "But we can't at the moment due to so many of that lead poacher's underlings standing around the copter in which they have been placed. Also, we're gonna need a plan to free those caged birds and attack those poachers before any more macaws or animals get caught."
She then gazed at the trees and said, "I hope Athos and his family will have reached Tulio and his team by now."
Then Catina gathered the group together and they began to discuss another plan of rescue.