Chapter 30- birds vs poachers part 1
Swoop, Xerosic and Bryony were a right state. All three looked battered and bruised and visibly shaken. They were also breathless for they had been flying very fast as though they had been chased by a predator. As the three lighted down, they were met by Cazador, the crows and some of Lysandre's underlings including Ernesto. One of the underlings had left to fetch Lysandre.
"What on earth has happened to you three?" demanded Cazador, shocked by the three falcons' appearance. Xerosic was the first to speak.
"We found ourselves confronted by an enormous flock of macaws," he said, "And some of them attacked us. We only managed to escape but now that flock of macaws is on its way here."
"On its way?" asked Cazador.
"There were so many macaws that we just turned tail and fled," said Bryony, her eyes wide with terror, "It appears that hundreds of them have been alerted to our presence and…"
Then she began to shudder. A look of frustration then crossed Cazador's face.
"You're all so USELESS!" he snarled. Then the leader of the poachers rushed in. When Lysandre saw the state of Xerosic, Bryony and Swoop, his face became laced with surprise. These three should have brought back some macaws like last time but it appeared that they had not succeeded. At this moment, in the vegetation, Aramis had managed to pick all the locks locking Blu and Jewel in their cage with his screwdriver and as soon as the couple was free, they shared a reunion hug with their friends and their chicks Carla, Bia and Tiago. Zephyr, Aurora, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil had been joined by Brisa and Roberto. Roberto was especially glad to be out of that cage. Being captured and shoved into one had triggered a flood of horrible memories of his capture and eventual abuse at the hands of the human girl when he was her pet, with 'Polly wanna cracker? Polly wanna cracker?' repeating torturously in his mind, which was why he was flooded with terror in the cage. Nearby, Felipe was hugging his chicks Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso, who were also glad to be out of their cages. Monique and Ray hugged Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette while Ginger helped D'Artagnan, who had been knocked unconscious by Nigel when he threw a rock at him, to his feet, and he was surrounded by his family and friends.
Aramis was visibly shaken and was trembling. When Nigel had exploded into a full-blown volcanic cockatoo at Esperanza, Aramis had tried to fly in to help but Dash had yelled at him to free the other caged birds, which he did. Seeing Nigel explode into a volcanic frenzy through losing his temper had visibly spooked Aramis for it reminded him of how Brutus used to turn violent whenever he lost his temper. But he was glad that the remaining birds had been freed. Then after the groups had broken their hugs, Blu and Jewel prepared for action.
"Right, time to deal with those wretched poachers," snarled Blu fiercely.
"And that slime-ball Nigel," put in Jewel, eager to sink her claws and beak into her most detested cockatoo's flesh. Carla, Bia and Tiago stood by Chlorophyll, Petunia and the other chicks that had remained hidden in the ferns all this time while their parents dealt with the poachers' pets with Veggie and the other mammals, apart from Ginger due to her pregnancy. Then the fluttering sounds from beating wings filled the group's ears. Esmeralda, Phoebe and Cobalto had managed to return after causing havoc for the cats and crows to keep them occupied. When they saw that the other birds had been freed from their cages, they were joyful.
"Well done, Aramis," said Phoebe, "You've managed to rescue all the caged birds including the recently captured ones."
Aramis sighed and glanced at the screwdriver.
"And thank you for keeping those poachers and their pets occupied in the process as well," said the great green macaw in a shaky voice.
"You should have seen Cobalto," said Esmeralda, her gaze on the tall hyacinth macaw, "He managed to claw Otis across the face."
Then Phoebe noticed that some animals were absent.
"Wait, where are Dash and the others?" he asked. Ginger was struck with dread, but then a four-legged mammal walked in.
"The others are taking Esperanza to safety," said the creature, a cat named Veggie. When Felipe and the other wild birds saw Veggie, they were stricken with terror, typical prey reaction to their natural predator.
"Whoa, whoa, it's alright," Aramis said, trying to calm them, "He may be our natural enemy but he's on our side."
Felipe flashed him a shocked glare.
"What!?" he retorted.
"But he resembles one of those feline creatures called a margay," said Roberto, "Except that he's smaller and wears that thing around his neck."
"I'm a housecat, actually," said Veggie, "From a human city."
The wild birds then dived behind the macaws who were used to Veggie. Veggie smiled when he saw that Blu, Aurora and their families had been freed.
"Aurora, Blu, Zephyr, the rest of you Spix macaws," he said joyfully, "Glad to see you out of your cages at last."
Jewel breathed a sigh of relief.
"You could say that again, Veg," she said. She absolutely loathed cages. Blu nodded in agreement. He liked cages but only if they were in the hands of caring humans like his former owner Linda. Cages kept by poachers on the other hand were repulsed by Blu as much as he was repulsed by Nigel. Then Blu saw the look on Veggie's face fall from joyful to one of sadness. His ears also fell, as they always did whenever a cat was in a low mood.
"What's happened?" Blu asked concerned. Veggie looked up at him. Zephyr, Aurora, Levi, Lapis Lazuli and the others, especially Ginger, looked back at the tabby cat, the wild birds including Roberto peering out from behind their human-place adapted friends, shocked to see that Veggie was friendly towards the macaws despite his species. Veggie then flashed a saddened look at Ginger, feeling reluctant to tell her but he had to.
"Esperanza's been badly attacked by Nigel and it's not just a clawing down the side like last time," he said. Horror tore through the group.
"No," said Levi. Aurora and Jewel raised their wings to their beaks and made sad faces while Blu looked on in disbelief. Aramis then looked at them.
"I saw him enter into a volcanic, and I do mean volcanic... temper outburst and brutally attack her," he said, "But that's all as my first priority was freeing the captured birds."
"Luckily, I, Dash, and Collette rushed in and managed to pry Nigel off of her before he could inflict any more damage on her but Nigel had escaped and run off into hiding," said Veggie, "Dash and the others have moved Esperanza to the safety of Tulio and his team's copter where she'll be safe but she's been badly clawed…"
Ginger's eyes pricked with horror and she immediately rushed off in the direction of Tulio's helicopter. Roberto went to follow his friend but Brisa placed a wing on his shoulder and shook her head, feeling it was inappropriate for him to see Esperanza's state. The other macaws looked on in utter horror. Then a look of outrage flared on Blu and Jewel's face.
"I'm gonna FLAY that cockatoo when we find him," snarled Jewel ferociously. Then Blu made a gruesome statement about Nigel much to the horror of the group. Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil covered their ears to block out the foul music. During this, Cobalto flew towards the clearing, having noticed something a bit odd about the trees on the other side of the deforested area. As he left, Phoebe flashed a determined face.
"But the battle against the poachers is not over yet," she growled.
"Absolutely," said Lapis Lazuli, "We need to do something about those intruders."
Veggie was about to reply when Cobalto's voice shouted the whole group over.
"Guys," he said, his voice laced with excitement, "You'd better come and take a look at this."
The other macaws and Veggie exchanged glances and walked over to Cobalto.
Meanwhile, the poaching group was sorting themselves out. Aliana and Cometa had also returned and Lysandre and his underlings were surveying the battered cats and crows. The cats and crows were terribly battered, and Otis bore a scratch mark across his face, inflicted on him by Cobalto during the skirmish. Lysandre was boiling with frustration that the falcons did not return with any more macaws and also over something else. As he examined the empty cages where the caged macaws were, he slammed a hand over one of them.
"You wretched fools!" he snarled to some of the underlings including John, "How could you possibly let those macaws escape?"
"B-b-b-but sir," stammered John timidly as the group leader strode towards him, "I-I-I-I thought those macaws weren't able to escape at all…"
As he said this, this, some of the cats and crows looked over the empty cages dumbfounded as to how the macaws had disappeared. They were covered in cuts and bruises from the skirmish with Dash and his group a whole ago.
"But how!?" shouted Adriana in disbelief as Tom looked into one of the cages.
"They must have found a way to escape while we were occupied with those pesky cats, greyhounds and macaws," said Paws with a frustrated frown. Then Tom shot him a suspicious glare.
"Do you think those offspring and former mate of Catina and their greyhound friends, who have managed to escape their shackles in the cargo bay of that copter in which we stashed them might have had backup that had allowed the macaws to escape?" he asked, still thinking Veggie and Catina had broken up based on Veggie's tale was true when it in fact wasn't. The other cats and crows looked back at him as the same conclusion and realisation dawned upon them. Tom's eyes narrowed at the possibility.
"Those PESKY friends of Blu and company, honestly!" he snarled, slamming a paw against the empty cage, "I'm gonna kill those snoopers if we ever find them again..."
"At least Nigel has given one of them greyhounds a piece of his mind," said Moggy sadistically. Her eyes then darted this way and that. "Where has that cockatoo gone, anyway?"
"I don't know but we've got to get those macaws back and caged pronto," said one of the crows, "One, the sky's clouding over; and two, those real ecologists are gonna return any moment…"
The cats and crows looked upward and saw that the sky's blue canvas had been screened by thickening grey clouds. Rain was not far away now and Moggy thought she had heard a thunderclap in the distance. While the cats and the crows continued pondering over how the macaws had managed to escape, a shriek of some of the underlings reached their ears. Tom snapped his gaze from the empty cage to one of the women and saw that her face was twisted into one of horror. Her mouth was open and her eyes were widened and she looked pale. It was though she was seeing a monster.
"Now what's up!?" snarled Tom with frustration. The other cats and crows also turned their eyes in the woman's direction and when they saw what she was seeing, their eyes widened and mouths or beaks dropped open as well. Tom followed their gaze and gasped. Cazador, Bryony, Swoop, Aliana, Xerosic and Cometa also dropped open their beaks as well, as did the other human underlings. Lysandre continued lambasting John and two other underlings over the macaws' disappearance when another underling, Ernesto, ran in.
"Lysandre, sir," he called.
"What!?" snapped Lysandre irritably.
"You need to take a look at this," said Ernesto. John and the other two with him turned and when they saw what Ernesto was pointing to, their faces morphed into horrified looks. Lysandre followed their gazes and drew in a sharp gasp when his eyes landed on the something the other poachers and their pets' eyes were gazing at.
The trees directly in front of the poachers were swarmed by birds, macaws to be exact, of various colours. However, the mass of red, blue, turquoise, navy blue, green, yellow and orange did not look friendly one bit, and were as thunderous as the clouds above. The faces of each of the macaws were volcanic, and their fiery eyes gazed down at the poachers and their pets. All their feathers were bristled and they looked terrifying. Amongst the enormous flock of macaws were a spot of white and yellow, another spot of pale pink and three smaller spots of white-pink. Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa stood perched next to Eduardo and Mimi while Athos, Ruby, Spinel, Alexandre and Poinsettia stood next to Pearl, and Porthos, Orquidea, Azul and Wilbur and also Ariel with her mother Carolina, sister Fernanda and father Eriko stood next to Soleado, Zoie and some of the blue-and-gold macaws, and Reynaldo, Anita and some other blue-throated macaws. Like all the other macaws, these macaws' eyes were looks of storms flashing with lightning. Travis, Athos and Porthos and their families must have rounded up the macaw tribes and clans to return and deal with the poachers and now the enormous flock of various macaw species (Spix, scarlet, green-winged, blue-and-gold, great green, military, Lear's, glaucous, blue-throated and hyacinth) were ready for action against the poachers.
From their hiding place, Veggie, and Levi, Aurora, Aramis, Phoebe, D'Artagnan, Blu and their families, and Felipe, Enrique, Benjamin, Regina, Alfonso from the red tribe, Brisa and Roberto from the Spix tribe, and Monique and Ray from the Lear's macaw tribe smiled widely.
"All right," shouted Felipe joyfully. His eyes then picked out Pearl who stood next to Athos and Ruby, which made him smile even more.
"Eduardo and Mimi," shouted Roberto as he saw the Spix tribe patriarch and his sister next to Travis and Sunset. Blu and Jewel also smiled as they saw the two in the trees.
"And Valentino and Waldo and Rosalind," shouted Monique as she saw the two macaws amongst the Lear's and green macaws. D'Artagnan and Sapphire also gazed at the leaders of the Lear's macaws and also the green macaws.
"There's Flavio and Marinho, Violeta, Demetrio and the other leaders," shouted Cobalto excitedly.
"And Rudi and Valeria," said Lapis Lazuli.
"Soleado," said Orquidea.
"And the blue-throated macaw clan," added Cobalto joyfully when he also saw the clan's leaders, Reynaldo and Anita, stand near Demetrio and Violeta and Ariel's family.
"They're all here," said Phoebe, "At least the macaw flocks are."
"And it looks like they are ready to rumble as well," said Zephyr. Veggie shot the group a glare.
"Well, when they do, you'd better get prepared to help out," he said. The moment he said this, the sound of flapping wings startled him. Veggie whipped round and saw Felipe, Roberto, Brisa and some of the other macaws fly out of the ferns, by the wall of trees and towards the flock of macaws. The rest of the macaws followed. On the way out, Blu said to Veggie, "You look after the other cats and dogs, especially Esperanza while we see to the poachers."
And with that, he tore off after Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago. Veggie shouted, "Be careful!" but the macaws were already out of earshot. Sure that the macaws were aware of the poachers, Veggie left to find the other house mammals.
The group of macaws continued flying close to the wall of trees bordering the area towards the colourful flock and as soon as they were near them, the macaws split up to find their relatives and friends. Eduardo gazed down at the group of humans standing in the clearing.
"So those are the poachers?" he asked Travis.
"Yes," said Travis in a low voice, "They were the ones who sent out those falcons to catch you, the Lear's macaws and the glaucous macaws."
"Well then," said Mimi fiercely, "Humans like them should NOT be anywhere near our home or on the sanctuary. This is a protected reserve where logging and poaching is supposed to have reduced. We must deal with those creeps at once."
"And also rescue Roxie and the others who were taken away," said Tornado nearby. He had heard what had happened to Nuvem's group during their outing, as had Gael and Viento, Nuvem's father. Suddenly, Gaels' wing shot out and pointed at something.
"Look," she cried. Eduardo and Mimi's eyes followed Gael's pointed wing and saw some colourful shapes approach them. Recognition swept through Eduardo and the others.
"Blu, Jewel, Roberto, grandkids!" shouted the former as the group melted into view.
"Zephyr, Brisa, Aurora, our grandkids as well," shouted Gael jubilantly. As the said Spix macaws approached Eduardo and the others around him with Roxie, Elena and Maximillian close behind, Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago made a beeline for Eduardo and Mimi and collided with them in a group hug while Aurora, Zephyr, Brisa, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil flew over to Tornado, Gael, Viento and Nuvem and also shared a reunion hug with them. Travis and Sunset with Eustace, Milo and Rosa looked on with smiles on their faces.
"Aurora, Zephyr, Blu, Jewel," shouted Travis joyfully, "Brilliant! You've managed to escape your prisons."
Blu and Jewel broke their hug with Eduardo and Mimi.
"When you five told us that my daughter had been captured, I had been stricken with terror," said Eduardo in a shaky voice. However, his voice smoothed out as he glanced at Jewel, glad that she was safe with her family, "But I'm glad that she, Blu and my grandkids had been freed."
"We were going to help rescue you," said Tornado as he broke the hug with Zephyr and Aurora, "But it seems that you had already been freed while we were rounding everyone up to deal with these poachers."
"At least that's out of the way now," said Gael. Sunset then turned dark.
"Just make sure to watch out for those humans' nets and their falcons," she said, "They are armed with lethal talons and beaks. Also beware of those cats and crows. They are very sneaky."
"Alright, thanks for the warnings," said Eduardo. Carla, Bia and Tiago smiled and gave Travis an unexpected hug, much to the cockatoo's shock.
"Thanks for bringing Pop-Pop along, Mr Travis," said Carla.
"And alerting everyone about the poachers," said Bia. Travis smiled and hugged the three chicks back, the others looking on with smiles. Nearby, amongst the crowd of red macaws, Felipe, Benjamin, Regina and Alfonso and Pearl had shared a reunion moment, together with Athos, Ruby, Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia. When Athos and Ruby's chicks saw Felipe and Pearl's chicks, with Pearl introducing them, they were excited to finally have cousins.
Elsewhere, D'Artagnan, Sapphire, Miranda, Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette had reunited with Waldo, Rosalind, Valentino and their friends, as had Aramis, Esmeralda, Chlorophyll and Petunia with their friends from the green tribe including Alonso; Phoebe, Cobalto, Zebedee and Indigo with Flavio, Marinho and their friends, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Tristan, Quincy, Trixie and Larimar with their family and friends including Rudi and Valeria amongst the glaucous macaw tribe. Then after the reunions had finished, the birds all focussed on their most important task: dealing with the poachers. They all glared fiercely down at the intruders. All the macaws in this enormous flock had been told about these intruders and they knew that they were not supposed to be anywhere near their homes for this was a protected reserve, set up by two of Blu's human friends who truly cared for the existence of the particularly rare species, the Spix, the Lear's and the glaucous macaws. On the ground, Lysandre and his group glared back at the huge flock of angry birds. Otis and his gang stood there, utterly aghast, and the six falcons and the crows also gazed at the flock with surprised eyes. Lysandre then frowned.
"Everyone, prepare your net guns," he commanded. Most of the underlings obeyed but John, overcome with fear and uncertainty, tried to run away but a hand reached out and grabbed his coat.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going, you coward?" snarled Lysandre. Then with a powerful tug, he hauled John back with the group.
"Ready your net gun this MINUTE!" Lysandre barked. John did so, but he still shook with fear.
"Er, sir," he began, "I don't think this is a…"
"Oh, shut up you big baby," snapped Lysandre irritably, "They're just a bunch of useless pigeons worth a lot of money. Now get ready!"
John, despite his fear and uncertainty bubbling within him, obeyed and stood with the other underlings. Otis and his group also prepared for action at Cazador's command.
"Crows, you too," barked Cazador and the crows spread their wings, poised to take off. Swoop, Xerosic, Aliana and Bryony also took up a ready stance despite three of them bearing quite some nasty injuries, and Cometa did the same but reluctantly. Cazador wore a determined look on his face. He was not going to allow things to veer off course this time and was hoping to catch as many as the macaws as possible. Cazador then eyed the flock of angry macaws.
"So, if you lot would rather come to us than the other way round, then so be it," he snarled under his breath. The macaws watched the poachers as they prepared for action. Athos examined their body language and facial expressions.
"They don't look afraid, Felipe," he said. Felipe, however, did not care.
"Well, that will soon change, Athos, when we attack," he growled, "And I hope they do turn tail and run back."
"Yeah," snarled Pearl ferociously. Athos and his family flashed them a glance before focussing on the poachers, their feathers puffed out. The other macaws from the green, Lear's, blue-and-gold, and glaucous tribes and the two hyacinth macaw clans and blue-throated macaw clan also prepared for action. Then a silent faceoff started. Every macaw's pairs of eyes fixed upon the poachers and vice versa. In the sky, the rainclouds continued to gather and rain was not too far away now. A rumble of thunder sounded. From his hiding place, Veggie prepared for action with Catina, Collette, Daisy, Avellana, James and Danny who had returned to help him. Dash and Ginger had stayed behind to look after the battered Esperanza and her three younger siblings were rather shaken after what Nigel had done to her but they did not care about that at the moment. Their main priority was helping the macaws deal with these poachers. Then after another minute of silence Blu shattered it with the shout.
"Alright then," he barked so that all the macaws could hear, "You all know what to do. If you have fought against those loggers, you know our rule. For those of you who haven't, here it is."
He then nodded to Zephyr who barked, "Birds of blue, navy blue, red, green, turquoise, grey, orange and yellow feathers…"
"And white and pink," said Travis. Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa nodded in agreement.
"HAVE TO STICK TOGETHER!" bellowed everyone else. Then with a loud shout, all the macaws spread their wings and the first ones took off. The signal to launch into a battle charge travelled through the macaw flock and soon, an enormous avalanche of various coloured feathers cascaded down from the trees and towards the poachers.
"NOOOW!" shouted Lysandre, unafraid of the avalanche of macaws headed for his group, and with that, bangs filled the air over the storm cloud of enraged squawks exploding from the macaws as nets flew out of their guns and flew towards the macaws. However, many of them missed as the macaws dodged. Then the crows stepped forward. At Cazador's command, they opened their wings and took off into the air, directly towards the avalanche of macaws. Swoop, Aliana, Bryony and Xerosic followed while the cats prepared empty cages. Then within seconds, the poachers were swarmed by the giant mass of colourful feathers. Bangs from net guns, along with enraged macaw squawks continued to sound but soon, agonised human cries filled the air as well as the poachers began to face a barrage of talons and beaks to their heads and shoulders. Three of the poachers actually ran with their hands covering their heads as a small flock of Spix, red and blue-and-gold macaws battered them with pecks and scratches while the others fired net guns at more macaws only to miss. Two or three nets, however, managed to hit their targets. A Spix macaw and a military macaw from Alonso's tribe were caught and sent plummeting towards the ground. Then as soon as they had hit the ground, Otis and his gang ran in and took them away. Back in the air, more macaws rushed at the poachers and scratched their faces and shoulders when suddenly, five grey and ivory streaks, accompanied by smaller black streaks rushed in and began to chase some macaws around like a dolphin after a shoal of sardines. However, the macaws fought back and soon, an aerial battle between them and the crows and falcons ensued.
D'Artagnan and Sapphire, together with Waldo, Valentino and Monique and some other Lear's macaws, dived down like a swarm of bees upon three of the poachers including Gale. The three poachers aimed their net guns and tried to trap the Lear's macaws but the navy blue and dark teal birds dodged and attacked. D'Artagnan then swooped in and charged into Gale's chest, knocking her back and making her drop her gun. As Gale shook herself too, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette were upon her. The three little Lear's macaw chicks smothered her face and shoulders with claw marks and bites, making the female human cry in pain and cover her face and head with her arms but the three sisters continued their vicious attack. Their parents then joined in the fray. Nearby, the other two poachers, both male, were lashing their hands and guns at the other Lear's macaws as they attacked. Waldo lunged at one of them and slashed his face with his talons when suddenly; a pair of human hands appeared and grabbed him. Waldo then screeched and struggled in the poacher's hands but the poacher kept a firm grip on him.
"Waldo," shouted D'Aartagnan as he saw the Lear's macaw struggle in the poacher's hands while he and his family continued their assault on Gale. Waldo continued writhing but the poacher restrained him. Seeing that Waldo was struggling to escape the poacher's grasp, Sapphire rushed in and with all her might sank her beak into the poacher's hands to get him to release her half-brother. An ear-piercing scream erupted from the man's mouth and as soon as his grip on Waldo became slack, Waldo escaped. Then the other man came in and tried to whack Sapphire with his net gun but the Lear's macaw rocketed upward, sending the gun's barrel smashing into the first man's hip. The man then cried again and grasped his side, the other one looking on apologetically.
"Sorry, mate," he said, "I was aiming for that macaw."
The hurt man looked up at his accomplice with eyes blazing with fire. Then he stood up, snatched the net gun out of the other man's arms and began to pelt him with it. Swearwords and other foul words erupted out of his mouth as he did it. Waldo retreated with D'Artagnan, Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette by his side, Valentino not too far away.
"Well done, Sapphire," said Valentino, "You've saved your half-brother from certain capture."
Waldo then flashed Sapphire a grateful glance as she smiled. But then she turned serious.
"Let's help the others," she said. The other Lear's macaws cheered and with that, they flew away to find where to help.
Elsewhere, some green, blue-and-gold and hyacinth macaws were causing a lot of havoc for more poachers. Aramis, Esmeralda, Chlorophyll and Petunia helped Lewin and Luis throw fruit and rocks at two of the women as they tried firing net guns at some blue-and-gold macaws while Porthos, together with Orquidea, Azul and Wilbur, led some blue-and-gold macaws in an attack dive on three more men. An arrow of blue, yellow and green rockets then dived down on the three men, making them cry and scatter. Porthos flew in and clawed another man across the face as he struggled with a green-winged macaw in his arms, allowing the green-winged macaw to escape. As he did this, Aramis flew in and threw another rock at another poacher, clouting him on the head and knocking him down.
"Have you seen Nigel anywhere?" puffed Aramis as he hovered to catch his breath.
"I don't know where he's gone but he's not important at the moment," said Porthos when suddenly, "LOOK OUT!"
The blue-and-gold macaw and great green macaw looked up and, to their horror, they saw a grey and ivory bird, its grape-like eyes ablaze with anger, swoop down on them. At the last second, a lush blue blur shot in and tackled both Aramis and Porthos out of the falcon's path. The falcon, which was Swoop, shook his head in confusion, before changing direction. Porthos and Aramis, together with Roberto who had tackled them out of Swoop's way in time, then stopped into a hover as the falcon then flew up and prepared for another attack. He had very nearly clawed Porthos and struck Aramis during his first attack.
"Thanks, Roberto," said Porthos. Roberto flashed him an approving glance before fixing his eyes on the falcon. Brisa flew in to help.
"Is that one of the poacher's birds?" he asked.
"Yes," said Aramis, "It's a falcon but these poachers also have crows."
Then Swoop hovered towards them and prepared to fight.
"I'm gonna get you this time, you wretched parrots," he snarled. Porthos hovered up to him and retorted with a smirk on his beak, "I think not, you pest!"
Then Swoop, with a loud cry, lunged towards the four macaws. The macaws all scattered, making Swoop's attack miss again. As Swoop turned round, Aramis jumped in and landed on his back. Swoop then began to shake his body this way and that to dislodge the great green macaw from his back but Aramis clung on like a rodeo on a wild bull.
"Get off me, you wretched green menace!" snarled the falcon and with that, he tried to turn round and bite Aramis but the macaw raked his talons into Swoop's back. An agonised cry exploded from Swoop's beak and he jerked violently upwards. This time, Aramis was sent flying. As he managed to regain control and balance, Swoop prepared to lunge at him when suddenly, a green, red, yellow and blue comet rushed in and bashed into his side. Swoop gasped in shock as Esmeralda sent him flying. Then Orquidea rushed in and landed another charging head butt square in Swoop's stomach, sending the falcon flying towards the ground and crashing into one of his owner's head. As Swoop and the poacher collapsed Aramis, Porthos, Orquidea, Esmeralda and Brisa and Roberto hi-fived one another with their talons.
Nearby, Chlorophyll, Petunia, Azul and Wilbur and more blue-and-gold and green chicks, toyed with four more poachers. One of them, a glasses-wearing woman, was swiping her hands at Chlorophyll and Petunia as they flew around her head and nipped her ears and face. Then Petunia flew in and snatched the woman's glasses, making the woman gasp as her sight-correcting device was taken away.
"This sure is fun," said Chlorophyll as he then pulled on the woman's hair, "Confusing these bad guys."
Petunia then dropped the glasses in the path of another poacher, another woman as she struggled with some green more macaw chicks as they pecked at her face and scratched with their talons. The woman's feet continued stepping back until one of her steps landed on the glasses, crushing the glass like an eggshell. The woman did not hear the crunch of glass under her foot and continued shielding her face from the marauding green chicks. She then crashed into the first woman who had lost her glasses and the two fell in a heap. The group of blue-and-gold and green chicks then flew upward and cheered. Nearby, Azul and Wilbur were wreaking havoc for another poacher, a man while the fourth poacher was having his hair pulled out by some more green and blue-and-gold chicks. The first man lashed his hands at the chicks and managed to grab Azul but the chick retaliated by sinking his beak into the skin of his hand, making the man yelp in pain and drop her. Azul then hovered.
"Take THIS you meanie," he bellowed and with that, he swooped down and grabbed a beak-ful of the man's hair. He then tore some of the hair out of the man's head, inflicting the man with immense pain. Wilbur then took his turn and tore out some more hair as well and within moments; both brothers were ripping beak-ful after beak-ful of hair out of the man's head, causing him a series of shooting pain from his scalp. Then after sending some strands of human hair drift gently down to the floor, Azul and Wilbur fluttered in front of the man's face and began to peck and claw him. The man was sent toppling backwards, directly over a thorny bush! The man screamed in pain as he had his backside stabbed by a bed of needles, much to the laughter of the two blue-and-gold macaw chicks.
"I never saw that patch of thorns," tittered Azul.
"He'll be limping around for a few hours with that pain," said Wilbur. Then the other man was sent toppling into his accomplice and he also fell backside first onto the patch of thorns. Chlorophyll, Petunia and their companions actually winced as they heard the human cry in utter agony.
"That's another poacher with a pincushion for a seat," said Petunia as she felt her nerves jolt at the pain. The others nodded in agreement before flying off with their friends, leaving the two men to struggle standing up, their backsides full of pin-like dots of pain from the thorns.
Not too far away, more chocks were causing havoc for some more poachers. Some Spix macaw chicks were being chased by another female poacher but they were heading towards a small group of red macaw chicks as they flew away from another woman in hot pursuit. Among the small flock of Spix macaw chicks were Carla, Bia and Tiago, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil and they all wore mischievous grins on their beaks.
"I know where this is goin'," tittered Tiago mischievously. Matilda then snapped a glance at the small cloud of red chicks directly in front of their group and waved to Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia among the flock of red macaw chicks. Then as soon as the Spix and red chicks met, they all flew directly upward, sending their chasers crashing square into each other. The blue and red chicks all laughed as the two women fell down, dazed.
"Brilliant teamwork, everyone," shouted Spinel.
"By my calculations, that must be the second time a collision's like that has happened," said Bia.
"I'd add one to that equation," said Poinsettia.
"We are so smart, aren't we?" shouted Carla. Suddenly, a yellow talon darted in and plucked Bia and Poinsettia out of the air like flies, much to the shock of the other four.
"You ain't smart enough to outsmart well-trained falcons like us, you little brats," snarled the talon's owner, Bryony, her eyes ablaze with anger. Bia and Poinsettia struggled in her talon but Bryony refused to let go.
"Now it's time for you to be caged," hissed Bryony. Suddenly, eight little comets, two red and the other six blue, rocketed in and charged into Bryony's stomach, making her drop Bia and Poinsettia.
"You let my sister and Alexandre and Spinel's sister go you big bully," snarled Tiago as he rammed his head into Bryony's belly. Then Spinel fluttered up and clawed Bryony across the cheek, making Bryony gasp in pain and clasp her scratched cheek. Then the other six chicks Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil and Carla then fluttered up and began to pelt Bryony with punches, scratches and bites. As they did that, Charlotte shouted to a group of Spix and red macaw chicks, among them Sheldon and Garrett, two of their friends.
"Get a vine, quickly!" she shouted. Without hesitation, the group flew off to find one while several more joined in the fray. Bryony struggled as more chick talons and beaks struck her face and neck. Then she finally snapped. With an enraged hiss, she lashed her talons at the chicks but they dodged.
"You lot are NOT gonna escape, you little BRATS!" she bellowed but then Carla boldly flew right up to her face and looked her in the eye.
"Who are you calling brats, you BRUTE!?" she rhetorically retorted and with that, she scratched Bryony's other cheek. Then Justin flew in and plucked a feather from Bryony's head, making her yelp in pain. Charlotte flew in and struck Bryony across the face with a wing, before turning sharply and striking her another five times. Bryony's head snapped this way and that as Charlotte rocketed past her head. Matilda then charged Bryony in the chest and knocked her backwards while Virgil flew in and began to pelt Bryony with more bites.
"If Uncle Rafael and Aunt Eva's chicks were here," giggled Virgil as he cheekily tugged the feathers on Bryony's cheek, "They'd have a real ball causing this big bad falcon a heap of trouble."
"Yeah, absolutely," said Tiago. Next, Poinsettia and Alexandre jumped in and began to add more bite and claw marks to Bryony's face and upper body while the other chicks, including Bia, Carla and Tiago, and Spinel attacked the lower parts of Bryony's body including her wings and back. Bryony was practically swallowed under a cloud of little red and blue birds and she struggled to shake them off. Then soon, Sheldon, Garrett and the other chicks with hem returned with a long green tendril. When Carla saw the group approach with it, she ordered all the other chicks to scatter. As the chicks did, Garrett and Sheldon's group took their turn. They rocketed around Bryony and tied her up in the green vine. Bryony struggled but the green strand of the vine grew tighter and tighter with each turn the red macaws made. Then soon, the vine was so tight that Bryony could no longer flap her wings and she was sent plummeting towards the ground, the red and blue chicks looking on. They all hi-fived one another and flew off, leaving Bryony to crash onto the dirt of the ground, a shower of soil erupting into the air.
At this moment, Cazador came by. When he saw the falcon bound head to foot in green tendril like a mummy, he flashed his eyes in surprise.
"I've been outsmarted by a bunch of macaw brats," snarled Bryony. Cazador rolled his eyes and began to bite through the vine to free Bryony. As soon as Bryony was free from her prison of vine, she stood up and brushed the remains of green strands off her plumage.
"Now get back into the fray and CATCH SOME MACAWS!" bellowed Cazador. Bryony nodded and flew off while Cazador himself took off and began to chase some glaucous macaws as they chased some crows. Nearby, Aurora, Zephyr, Athos, Ruby, Blu, Jewel and Travis and Sunset hovered in the air with some more big rocks and fruit in their talons. Beneath them, more poachers were running around, shielding their heads with their hands from the marauding macaws. Then as soon as a group of poachers were corralled into a tight group directly below them, Blu yelled, "Alright, boys and girls, RELEASE!"
And with that, the rocks and fruit were released from their talons. They plummeted towards the group of poachers and struck them on their heads. The poachers then fell down like skittles, dazed. The macaws and two cockatoos cheered and hi-fived one another after the poachers had collapsed.
"Strike, just like in ten-pin bowling!" shouted Athos joyfully. When Ruby and some of the others shot him a confused look, Athos said, "It's a game involving ten stick things called skittles and a ball. A strike is obtained when all ten skittles are knocked down in one bowling throw."
"They certainly did fall down like skittles, didn't they?" said Aurora.
"I don't think I've seen a game like that before," said Jewel. Suddenly, a familiar voice shouted, "Jewel, look OUUUT!"
Jewel spun round but before she could recognise the voice, a cerulean comet flew in and tackled her, sending her flying, moments before a spider-web like thing flew in and caught the macaw in her place. When Jewel recovered her balance, she looked down at the macaw who had tackled her but when she saw who it was and that he was netted, horror exploded within her.
"Daddy!" she cried and dived down after him. Blu and the others followed.
"Eduardo, NO!" shouted Athos. The macaw, which was Eduardo, struggled in the net as he continued to fall until he finally crashed onto the ground. Then seconds later, one of the cats, Tom rushed in and picked up Eduardo as he struggled in the net.
"Hah, looks like you've been caught off guard, precious gemstone," crooned Tom wickedly into Eduardo's face. Suddenly, an enraged squawk exploded above him. Tom looked up in time to see a fire-eyed Jewel swoop down on him like a hawk, her talons outstretched. Tom ducked before Jewel's talons could rake his skin and draw blood, and dived into a tumble with an enraged and struggling Eduardo firmly in his paws. Eduardo fiercely struggled and tried biting Tom but Tom refused to let go. Then a darker blue and a few red comets flew in and began to attack Tom.
"You let my father-in-law go, you PESKY ALLEY CAT!" snarled Blu and with that, he jumped onto Tom's back and began to claw him. Tom cried and shouted to another cat, Moggy as she shoved a glaucous macaw in to a cage and said, "Here, cage this Spix macaw!"
Moggy took up a catch-ready stance and Tom tossed Eduardo to her. Moggy caught Eduardo and took him away.
As Moggy rushed towards an empty cage held by two cats, the all-black male and Adriana, Eduardo in her paws and Athos in hot pursuit behind her, a white, black and ginger blur rushed in and tackled into her side. Moggy, taken by surprise, was sent tumbling for a few metres. Eduardo was thrown upward during the tumble and he came crashing into the brown soil again as the white blur with black and ginger patches, Catina, then charged Moggy again, knocking her down a second time. As Catina did this, the all-black cat and Adriana's eyes flashed with intense rage.
"YOU!" bellowed Adriana, her fur puffed out as she watched the calico then run towards Eduardo. Catina ignored the two cats, stopped by Eduardo's side and clicked her claws. Eduardo panicked and released a threatening hiss when he saw Catina but she calmed him.
"Don't worry, I'm on your side," she said. She then rammed her claws through the net thread binding Eduardo's body and snapped them. The black cat and Adriana then ran in. Otis, who had also noticed Catina, also ran in. The eyes of all three cats were ablaze with vengeance and fury, and the three cats began to advance towards Catina. Suddenly, a cerulean comet flew in and tried to attack Otis to stop him from advancing further towards Catina while Athos lunged at Adriana and the black cat. Otis flared his brown eyes at Jewel as she tried to rake his face with her claws.
"Buzz off, you cerulean feathered pest," snarled the black and white cat and with that, he raised a paw and swiped Jewel hard across the face, sending her flying. Athos, as he hovered above Adriana and the black cat, drew in a horrified gasp when he saw this.
"I wish he hadn't done that," he squeaked loudly, knowing about Jewel's volcanic temper, not to mention Eduardo's especially when his daughter got hurt. He then flinched as he saw Jewel fly and crash-land on her front a few metres away from the group, before refocusing on lashing back at Adriana and the black cat and dodging their paw swipes. With Jewel out of the way, Otis began to advance towards Catina as she snapped the last of the strands binding Eduardo. This done, Eduardo stood up but when he saw the black and white form of Otis approach him and then Jewel's body across from him, he gasped and ran over to inspect his daughter while Catina took up a defensive stance.
"I should have KNOWN you were spying on us and causing us trouble behind our backs all along, you traitorous calico," snarled Otis bitterly. Catina just stood her ground, her eyes baby blue flames, like those of burning sulfur. Her fur was puffed out and her claws were flared, ready for use. Not too far away, Blu continued attacking Tom while Eduardo inspected Jewel, who was conscious but stunned, but Otis's swipe to her face had a scratch which wept a bead of blood, much to Eduardo's explosive fury. He stood up and his green eyes erupted like volcanoes. Nearby, Athos continued fiercely attacking Adriana and the black cat.
"All part of helping my friends escape these pesky poachers," retorted Catina bitterly. Otis hissed in revulsion at Catina's response.
"Don't you realise what misery you have caused us by abandoning us and joining our enemies, calico?" snarled Otis, "You have caused the death of Brutus, destroyed our future and left us to become some sort of lousy HOUSECATS! We could have been RICH, but you have decided to throw it all away by dumping us, leaving us to pick up the pieces and choosing the lousy life as a house pet."
"What kind of a life is going round capturing helpless birds and smuggling them illegally out of this country, anyway?" snapped Catina. Suddenly, her baby blue eyes caught sighted a cerulean form striding towards Otis. When she saw that the form was brimming with volcanism, Catina's face changed from anger to a look of, "Uh-oh". Otis, however, hadn't noticed… that an extremely enraged Spix macaw was walking towards him.
"We do that to make money," he bellowed but he stopped when he saw Catina, her eyes flooded with fear, back away. Wondering why Catina had changed her behaviour so suddenly, Otis turned his head to the something Catina's frightened eyes were focussing on and when his eyes landed on it, he gasped in horror.
Standing before him was a stocky male Spix macaw with a ruffle of feathers on his head. His green eyes were ablaze with fury and the macaw's face under his feathers was practically as red as the plumage of Athos except his wings and tail. Standing beside him was Jewel, her face which had a small scratch from Otis's swipe, also thunderous. When Otis saw Eduardo and how furious he looked, he flinched and began to back away.
"I-I-I didn't knock her away, honestly," stammered the cat timidly. However, Eduardo, not fooled even the slightest, finally let his temper volcanically erupt. Heaving a huge breath such that his chest inflated, the Spix tribe patriarch let loose an extremely loud and frightening jaguar-like roar. The roar literally made Otis turn as white as a sheet and into a puffball and when it reached the ears of Blu as he delivered the knockout blow to Tom, he whipped round and flinched harshly at how angry his father-in-law was. Catrina also jumped back by about ten feet in utter fright while Athos, Moggy and the black cat flinched harshly, Moggy and the black cat actually bolting. But the one who was most frightened was Otis, for he had been the one to have whacked Jewel away, inflicting a small scratch on her cheek in the process. Overcome by immense terror, the black and white cat tried to flee but Eduardo, fuelled by immense fury, dashed in, clamped his beak onto his tail and pulled him right back. Eduardo then slammed Otis hard onto the ground three times before spinning him around by the tail and flinging him towards the tree stump. Otis flew towards the stump of wood and slammed hard against it. Then before he could get up, the volcanic Eduardo pounced onto him and began to apply his talons and beak full-force with Jewel flying in and joining the attack. Agonised screeches exploded from Otis's mouth as he was brutally and mercilessly clawed and bit by the two macaws.