Attack of the Flying Foxes and the Battle for the Sanctuary- edited

by VPVPVP

The Sanctuary de Amazon becomes threatened with takeover by a colony of winged mammals who view all birds of the rainforest as vermin. When all peaceful shots fail and the threat becomes critical, the avian inhabitants are left with no choice but to resort to extreme measures to protect their homes, even if it means using violence and waging the biggest war in history.

32. 32- discussions of plans

Chapter 32- discussions of plans

Later, in the Spix tribe's ravine

Blu and Jewel spoke to Eduardo and Mimi in the meeting tree. They were voicing their concerns about the worsening flying fox situation and had turned to Jewel's father and aunt and former tribe leaders for advice. It clearly was a difficult one and Eduardo and Mimi had been struggling to think of a possible answer to the question. The last difficult problem had been the debt crisis that threatened to remove the Sanctuary de Amazon's protected status but this one was proving an even bigger challenge to think of a solution. However, Mimi had advised the two Spix tribe leaders to wait and see and besides that, they were still awaiting the return of the Spix macaws Blu and Jewel had sent to Alonso's tribe's territory a few days ago, hopefully the rescue mission complete.

Alonso's tribe's home grove had been the ideal spot for meeting up for the rescue mission for the green tribe's territory was nearest to the flying foxes' territory, along with the Lear's tribe's land and the former land of the blue-throated macaw clan and the nearly-decimated hyacinth Bluewing Clan. Furthermore, Blu and Jewel wanted to focus on coming up with possible solutions to the problem which was why they had left the rescue group setup to Alonso and Verde besides their tribe's land's proximity to the flying foxes' land. While the pair was chatting to Eduardo and Mimi, a knock on the hollow's entrance stirred them out of it.

"Who is it?" asked Blu rather snappily. It was clear that he and Jewel were moody. The stress of the situation with the flying foxes and from the tiredness of the past four days was affecting their sleep pattern. Eduardo and Mimi were also facing the same problems. Then a blue macaw, a patroller named Maximillian who was Turquesa's father, came in.

"Roberto's group has returned, Blu and Jewel," he said, "The mission has been successful."

Brief smiles flashed on Blu, Jewel, Eduardo and Mimi's beaks at this good news but they soon vanished as Maximillian's face turned serious, along with his voice tone. "However, they have something we should know but you're not gonna like it."

Later

A sea of cerulean and blue birds stood gathered outside the meeting tree, the moonlight bathing them in a silvery fluid. Zephyr, Aurora, Roberto and Brisa had opted to tell Blu, Jewel, Eduardo and Mimi the harrowing news and so were inside the tree doing just that. At the babysitter's hollow, some chicks, among them Oberon, Ophelia, Azurite, Aquamarine, Linda and Luke, the youngest chicks of Blu, Zephyr, Roberto and their respective mates Jewel, Aurora and Brisa, peered out of their hollow bedroom windows, curious eyes focussed on the crowd, while not too far away from the meeting tree, Carla, Bia, Tiago and Kira stood with all their friends. Carla stood with Justin, Charlotte with Músculo, Matilda with Tiago, Virgil with Bia,Finnick with Kira, Lavender with Garrett, Felix with Turquesa, and Tyler with Annie and his brother Ricardo. The couples were locked in their embraces, shocked and sorrowful looks on their faces as their hearts were weighed down with worry over the past events. Next to Carla's group, the other Spix macaws who had participated in the rescue also stood, sombre faces fixated on the meeting tree. Tearful eyes were clearly visible on the faces of these macaws too as the discussion occurred within the meeting tree.

Then after a few minutes, Blu emerged from the meeting hollow with Jewel, Eduardo, Mimi, Zephyr, Brisa, Roberto and Aurora close behind him. A look of thunder, disbelief and distress was clear on the new patriarch's face and that expression was mirrored on those of his mate, his father-in-law and aunt-in-law, though Mimi was very upset and was weeping.

"It's just as we expected," said Blu in a shaky voice, "Those furballs now know of our ravine and our tribe because of Nuvem."

"Not to mention our land being protected reserves," added Jewel. Horrified gasps rolled through the cerulean sea of blue macaws. In dozens of hollows across the ravine, parents looked on with despair. Their home was now in definite danger of being taken over by the flying foxes. Maximillian gazed at Blu and Jewel.

"Then that means we're gonna have to resort to extreme measures," he said sombrely. Blu shot him a 'what!?' look.

"Blu," said Maximillian in an urgent voice, trying to get his point across, "We have tried every peaceful option and it hasn't worked. It is time for serious action."

"That's absolutely right," growled Jewel, her temper threatening to flare, "Our homes are now at stake, Blu."

Blu continued to struggle to find words but his tongue was stuck in his beak.

"Dad," said Carla, "This ravine is our home and we have to defend it."

"Yes," said Roberto, "It's the only place we've got and the last thing we want us becoming is nomads exposed to loggers and poachers again. This ravine is extremely valuable to us."

"Ever since our tribe has found it when I, Zephyr and Jewel had been separated from it actually, similar to how the Lear's macaw tribe's ancestors had found their ravine and settled into it," added Brisa.

"And because of that, we don't want those flying foxes forcing us out of this habitat," added Zephyr.

"Not to mention the fact that our ravine and land, and the lands of our neighbours, have been set up as a protected nature reserve from poaching and logging, including the archaeobird clan's home," added Aurora, "We all MUST take action to protect it. Like Roberto said, we don't want to become nomads exposed to logging and poaching again."

"That's right," said Eduardo to his son-in-law gruffly, "Seriously Blu, you need to put that smart brain of yours into action and start thinking of what we could do."

Blu shot him and Mimi a look and then gazed at the crowd. Then Roberto stepped forward with the answer to this question.

"Alonso has already done that, Eduardo," he said, "He has told us to deliver you this message: he would like us to have a tribe and clan leader discussion, here in our meeting tree, tomorrow morning."

"Also, Augustus and Melissa are going to take part," said Aurora, "Since they will have all the knowledge about their colony and the tactics they use in driving out bird tribes and clans."

Jewel gazed at Roberto and Aurora with surprise but then a glimmer of hope twinkled in her eyes. "That's brilliant," she said, "We'll have to make sure that our meeting tree is prepared for that meeting. Thanks for telling us that, you two."

Then turning to the crowd, she delivered the announcement. As she spoke to the crowd, Blu sat down, a devastated look on his face.

"I cannot believe this is happening," he muttered, his face buried in his wings as Carla and company came round him, "The flying foxes will be more eager than ever to drive out the next tribe or clan. But the question is, who?"

As he said this, Brisa felt a thought pop within her mind.

"Erm… while we were creeping through the flying foxes' territory to the interrogation area during the rescue mission," said she, "We overheard some flying foxes talk about the ravine… of the…" however, she trailed off as realisation came crashing on her, but it wasn't the ravine of the Spix macaws she was thinking of that was under threat. It was the other ravine. Then Brisa's beak dropped open as horror swept through her as realisation dawned upon her.

"Brisa," said Aurora, "What are you talking about?"

Brisa shot her sister-in-law a horrified look. Then Zephyr saw where his sister was getting to: D'Artagnan and Sapphire's tribe.

"We'd better mention that to Alonso and the other leaders when they come to our meeting tomorrow morning," he said urgently. When Carla and company heard this, they all flinched in horror.

"Oh, the Lear's tribe's prized heirloom, their ravine, is under serious threat," gasped Carla.

"So is the Lear's macaw tribe itself," said Bia, "knowing them to be extremely protective of their heritage habitat."

This was definitely a serious matter. Any bird tribe or clan that stood to defend their home rather than flee was at serious risk of getting horribly slaughtered by the invading bats, and the flying foxes were ruthlessly keen on grabbing the land from the bird tribe or clan and will not, repeat NOT, hesitate to use savage force to blast through the stubbornness of that bird tribe or clan defending their home, and the Lear's macaw tribe was especially rigid about their precious ravine, which would mean they would face potential slaughter that would potentially decimate the entire tribe.

"I hope those flying foxes aren't planning on driving those poor birds out too soon," moaned Tiago worriedly. Then Kira had thoughts for Sapphire, D'Artagnan, Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Finn and the others in the Lear's tribe and shuddered. Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil and Finnick, Felix, Lavender, Tyler, Ricardo, Annie, Turquesa, Garrett and Músculo also felt worries for their Lear's friends course through them. To add to their vulnerability of their rock-hard stubbornness about their ravine, the Lear's macaws had no other tribe or clan of birds larger than them living with them like the blue-throated macaw clan had with the Bluewing Clan of hyacinth macaws. As a result, the Lear's macaw tribe might not have time to make an emergency escape if an invasion from the flying foxes were to come suddenly. While these thoughts bubbled within the minds of Carla and company, Zephyr and Blu began to order the group to bed while Jewel began to dismiss the crowd of Spix macaws after her speech.

"Look, we're gonna have a meeting with the other tribe and clan leaders here in the meeting tree tomorrow morning, you lot," said Zephyr firmly, "I know how you feel about the Lear's macaw tribe but it is too late to discuss this any further tonight. We should be asleep by now."

"Yes," said Blu, "So off to bed, all of you and we'll see you guys in the morning."

"And besides, we've got a lot of things that need doing tomorrow so we might need your help," said Aurora. Roberto and Brisa wore the same commanding looks on their faces as Carla and company, at first hesitant, then nodded and left for their nests. As the group dispersed, Jewel came in.

"Boy, that sure was a challenge in trying to calm the tribe down," she told her mate and the other four, "Mind you this flying fox situation is causing a lot of worry and stress for everyone."

"Well, you're doing great as their matriarch, Jewel, like your father said," said Brisa with a smile. Jewel breathed a saddened sigh.

"Yeah, and I'm especially concerned for the Lear's macaw tribe," said Roberto. "I kind of agree with Carla and the others."

"Well, we'll see to that tomorrow but in the meantime, let's get some sleep. We've got a lot of discussing to do tomorrow and I want us to be ready for it," said Blu. Jewel, Roberto, Brisa, Zephyr and Aurora all nodded in agreement and with that, the six all dispersed to their nests.

Meanwhile

Cicatriz and Iracebeth sat on a branch outside the infirmary tree where injured or sick flying foxes were taken to be treated. Several dozen bats had been carried here after the skirmish with the rescue group, and some had suffered damaged wing membranes, and the two leaders themselves were also having their scratches, inflicted on them by Augustus as he left, tended to, two colony nurses cleaning their wounds with damp moss. Nearby, Shinzon, Ratigan and the other bats that had attempted to catch the rescue group also stood with ashamed looks on their faces. They had been yelled at by Cicatriz and Iracebeth for allowing the rescue group to escape and they were still suffering the after-effects of the powder tossed into their faces by the archaeobirds. Their eyes were bloodshot and red from the irritation of the powder and their noses were runny, and coughs and sneezes still escaped their throats. As the colony nurses continued treating the injured bats, Cicatriz, a look of thunder on his face, growled, "That brother of mine and his mate really HAVE crossed the line this time, and has gone beyond the point of no return. Not only have they betrayed us defecting to our enemy's side but they have also had the AUDACITY to bring in some of those feathered worms into our territory when it is forbidden to them. They're gonna seriously pay for their insolence and other crimes against their colony, like how that lousy Lily did when we caught her."

"Tell me about it," muttered Iracebeth, wincing from the stings from her scratches as a nurse bat dabbed a blob of wet moss onto it. Then she moved on. "So, what's next, Cicatriz? Are we gonna carry out the next stage of our plans now that we have all the information we need of those bird flocks' territories and why their land has not seen logging activity for so long?"

"Our next target's gonna be the Lear's macaws," replied Cicatriz, flinching slightly as another nurse bat dabbed his scratched face with a piece of wet moss, "We're gonna attack that tribe within their ravine full force and slaughtering as many of those birds as possible while the rest will be driven out of the territory. Those navy blue feathered worms may call their ravine their heirloom but it is OURS for the taking. They don't deserve a ravine like that."

Iracebeth smiled evilly.

"There is also a licuri palm grove in that ravine as well," she crooned, "I would love to try some of those nuts."

Cicatriz smiled despite the stings still emanating from his scratched face.

At this moment, one of the lead colony nurses emerged from the infirmary tree, a sombre look on his face.

"How's Voldemort doing?" asked Cicatriz, his left eye, the only one functioning, focussed on the flying fox who shook his head.

"I'm afraid his right cheek has received a horrible scratch wound," he said, "It seems that the four-winged bird pest that had delivered the blow had a well-aimed strike. And I'm sorry to say this but I believe that Voldemort is going to have a very nasty and permanent scar on his cheek. At least his eye wasn't hit though."

Cicatriz and Iracebeth looked on in disappointment.

"Will he be fit enough for the invasion of the next patch of land?" asked Cicatriz.

"I'm afraid not," said the lead nurse bat, "He's gonna have to remain here for a while until his injuries heal."

Cicatriz breathed another sigh of disappointment. Voldemort was one of his most trusted and well-trained bats in the colony and also one of the most ruthless, capable of slaughtering multiple birds but now, with a badly slashed cheek and current injuries from the most recent skirmish with the rescue group, he was unfit for the next step. Moving on, Cicatriz thanked the lead nurse and commanded him to return to his duties before standing up and gazing in the direction of the birds' territory.

"We're not gonna put our plans in driving out the Lear's macaw tribe into action just yet," said he, "We've got a lot of training and preparations to make first for that tribe is quite large and they might be as difficult as a clan of hyacinth macaws to tackle…"

Iracebeth smiled as she looked forward to having another patch of land added to the flying foxes' growing territory, not to mention the grabbing of the land that was protected from logging and poaching, and since two of the prisoners had been forced to give this information, the flying fox colony's eagerness in grabbing that land has exploded violently. 'After all,' thought Iracebeth wickedly, 'those worthless feathered disasters don't deserve to be protected from logging and poaching. They're the cause of those problems that affect our colony. I hope that any of those birds that survive our siege will be left to face those disasters that they have caused us!'

Iracebeth then emitted a wicked titter as she relished the plans based on this outright lies. However, she knew that the prize was to wait first due to training that needed doing…

Morning

The Spix tribe's ravine was alive with the sounds of Spix macaws getting up and preparing for the day ahead. However, many of them had not had a very decent night's sleep last night due to the activities involving the rescue and the four-day delay on Augustus and his family's part due to Cicatriz's interruption, but the higher ranking birds were still ready for the most important activity of the morning, the meeting and tactical discussion with the other tribe and clan leaders and inner circle birds, along with Augustus and Melissa, and Blu, Jewel and some of the inner circle Spix birds, and Eduardo and Mimi were setting up the meeting hollow in preps for that. While they did this, the other Spix macaws continued their daily activities; foraging groups went out, chicks were preparing for classes and parents and other adult macaws cleaned out and tidied their hollows.

Carla, Bia and Tiago, together with their friends and cousin Kira, were lounging around or talking. Bia had her beak in her science books, Tiago in his book of jokes and pranks, Carla was listening to some music and Kira was just lying on her back, her wings tucked under her head and her eyes closed as she relished the warmth of the sun. Nearby, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil chatted to their cousins Finnick, Felix and Lavender while Ricardo and Tyler were helping their mother Cassia to gather some herbal plants for their mini-infirmary, very sombre looks on their faces. Cassia had been devastated by the news of Nuvem and the information he was forced to give the flying foxes during his torture with the other eight prisoners but she kept herself occupied by gathering medical plants with her two sons. Annie, Garrett and Músculo were sorting through some fruit for breakfast. While he chatted with his four cousins and brother and sister, Felix observed the inner circle birds, among them his parents Brisa and Roberto, as they helped Blu and Jewel to prepare the meeting tree when he saw a flash of odd colour enter the ravine's entrance.His ocean blue eyes darted to the forms and when he saw who they were, surprise lit up within him.

"Hey, guys, look," he said to the other six and pointed to the shapes, "Aren't those macaws from Alonso's tribe?"

Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick and Lavender gathered round him and saw a quartet of green birds with aqua blue wings and yellow wing undersides, red foreheads, and aqua blue and red tails as they made a beeline for Blu and Jewel and called to them. Lavender saw that one of them was carrying a leaf in its talons.

"I believe they are Alonso's messengers," she said, "Alonso did say that he was going to send some messengers to our tribe leaders to let him know of the meeting this morning and that they will be there any minute."

"So all the tribe and clan leaders and also the leaders of the smaller groups are going to come as well?" asked Finnick.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised," said Justin, "This is a serious matter after all. The entire Sanctuary de Amazon is under threat from those bats."

"Especially now that they know very well about our territories, our flocks and also of our homes' status as protected reserves," said Charlotte.

"Not to mention the archaeobirds," added Matilda, "You should have seen how outraged Ophiuchus and the other archaeobirds that attended the events of last night and I wouldn't be surprised at Andromeda and Eragon's reaction as well."

"We are all in serious danger because of them but what else could they have done?" asked Virgil, "Would they have rather died a painful death at the wings of those brutish furballs than to give them all the important information about the Sanctuary de Amazon?"

"It's not a matter of the threat of death that was important," said Finnick firmly, "It's the agony their interrogators inflicted on them. They would rather suffer it a short time than a long time and not say anything," he put his wings behind his head and sighed, "after all, those bats would have been very impatient to find out about our homes and thus would have been absolutely demanding on their prisoners."

"In other words, those prisoners had been forced to give the bats the important information," said Felix. A sad sigh then left his beak. "I just hope those nine are alright in the hospital," he said sympathetically, "At least they'll be safe from any marauding flying foxes while we deal with this situation."

His gaze then rested on Tyler and Ricardo as they continued to help their mother Cassia bring in some more herbal plants, a tear coming to his eye as he saw their sad facial expressions. They clearly missed Nuvem and were suffering the void he had left in their family.

"Yeah, especially Aunt Lapis Lazuli as well," added Justin, "What she's been through is likely to scar her for life."

The other seven nodded in agreement before moving on to talk about something else while they waited for the arrival of the other tribe, clan ands group leaders, inner circle birds and also Augustus and his family to turn up.

Meanwhile

In the animal hospital's bird department, several near-featherless birds lay in some cages. One of them was a Spix macaw, another was a glaucous macaw, two were scarlet macaws, two were great green macaws, one was a blue-and-gold and one was a Lear's macaw. Nuvem, Lapis Lazuli, Alfonso, Ruby, Ted, Esmeralda, Orquidea and Waldo lay in their cages, each in a soft bed of tissue and plastic tubes entering their wings and connecting them to some bags filled with clear fluids suspended from the ceiling. Each of them also had empty food bowls lying beside them and their water tubes were almost empty. An empty bowl and an empty water tube was present in each of the eight cages but when the eight macaws had been placed into the cages after receiving treatment for their various injuries by the bird doctors, they had all been full of food and water. After the bird doctors had left the eight birds alone after hooking them up to the drips and checking on them before moving on to see to other tasks, the eight birds had wolfed down and almost completely diminished their bowls and water tubes entirely. This was no surprise for they had been absolutely starving, having not eaten a sliver of food or had one proper drop of water since their kidnap by the wicked flying foxes who had never bothered to feed them any food or give them anything to drink. When they did, the flying foxes only did it for taunting purposes. And though the eight birds had completely troughed through the entire bowls, their stomachs still screamed for food.

Another thing the eight macaws had missed over four whole days and nights was sleep. Their flying fox captors had kept them awake all night as part of their sadistic torture and interrogation of them. As a result, the eight macaws had also been extremely tired and after they had wolfed down their food and water, they had fallen into a deep sleep on the spot despite their still-growling stomachs. Now, all eight of them were sound asleep but as they entered the land of slumber, nightmares of their four-day ordeal in the flying foxes' interrogation area had begun to storm their minds. The eight macaws were muttering continuously in their sleep, begging for mercy to their interrogators as they continued beating them, tormenting them, submerging them in the stream and taunting them with food. Out of the group, Lapis Lazuli was especially facing immense torment. She trembled violently and kept on desperately and futilely begging the bats in her mind for mercy only to receive a frightening scare or attack, leading to her screaming and jerking in her sleep. The other seven also continued to writhe and squirm as they were tormented by the same nightmares but their writhing, squawking and squirming were not as severe as Lapis Lazuli's.

Just then, the eight cages containing the nightmare-locked macaws were approached by four forms. One of them was a female blue-throated macaw, another was a young female scarlet macaw, the third was a female blue-and-gold macaw and the third was a female archaeobird. Ariel, Estelle's cousin Gabby, Winona and Glimmergem had come to see the eight new arrivals to check on them. These four had calmed down after the shock of their own ordeals at the clutches of the flying foxes and when they had arrived in the hospital, they had been badly shaken. Now, that shock had reduced though they were still left with the aftershocks of the attacks which were more obvious in Ariel because of the trauma she had suffered on the night of the invasion and she still had nightmares about pitch-black bats with red streaks, eyes glowing menacingly in the moonlight and wielding weapons such as sharp-sticks, and countless hyacinth macaws falling from the sky during the massacre that took place five nights ago. The four's injuries were on their way to healing as well, including their broken limbs which were still in a cast. Winona, Ariel and Glimmergem's wings and Gabby's right talon will remain in their casts until the bones in them had completely fixed themselves and, in Winona's case, her dislocated shoulder was healed, and until the bird doctors were sure that their injured limbs were strong enough for their casts to be removed. The minor cuts and bruises had also pretty much disappeared but the larger scratches borne by Gabby, such as one on her right wing and another on her torso, were still visible. Ariel's more serious injuries on her brow above her right eye and the left side of her body, which had been stitched up, were still visible as reddish lines spanning most of her brow and from the base of her neck down to the top of her left leg where blood had welled, and Ariel was not sure how these injuries were going to turn out once they had fully healed, but it was likely that they were going to scar by the time she was fit enough to return to the wild. The four gazed at the sleeping forms of the eight near-featherless macaws, flinching at each of their witters that kept emanating from their beaks.

Last night, the quartet had been disturbed as nine new casualties had been dropped off, before being treated and placed into these cages and then noisily gorging themselves on the food in their bowls and drinking from their tubes. However, one of them, the young hyacinth macaw, had died in the process. The trauma of the four-day ordeal in the flying foxes' territory had taken its toll on his body. Then when Winona, Ariel, Glimmergem and Gabby saw the state of the remaining eight macaws for the first time, they had been absolutely horrified and still were even now. Ariel then began to whisper to the other three.

"I believe those rotten bats have done this to them," she said in a low voice.

"Kidnap?" replied Gabby. Glimmergem and Winona, however, shook her head in disagreement.

"I don't think so," the former, the archaeobird, said, "You were violently thrown against a rock and then into a thorny patch while Winona suffered a dislocated wing and I suffered a broken wing while my bat-bird was fatally stabbed, along with Sergio, and both of those occurred when we tried stopping those kidnappers." She then nodded to Aiel, "Her injuries are the result of the siege on her clan and the Bluewings but the state of those eight," her face turned dark, "I believe they have suffered an even greater and more horrific ordeal actually in the flying foxes' territory."

Ddread tore through Winona, Ariel and Gabby as they deduced what Glimmergem was insinuating to them to. Then without another word, the four backed away to allow the eight remaining survivors to continue to sleep and returned to their cages. They will actually talk to them once they were well enough to be wide awake.

Meanwhile

Blu and Jewel, together with the inner circle Spix macaws, had finished preparing the tree when Maximillian touched down before them.

"The other leaders and their inner circle birds are here with Augustus and his family," he shouted.

"Right, lead them in," commanded Blu. Maximillian nodded and took off to meet the leaders and guide them to the meeting tree while Blu, Jewel, Zephyr, Aurora, Brisa and Roberto and some of the other inner circle birds checked the meeting tree one final time. Then as soon as this was done, the Spix macaws turned to meeting the other tribe and clan leaders as they entered the ravine in a colourful cloud. Dozens and dozens of cerulean and blue heads peered out of the trees as they gazed at the colourful flock of birds, among them a splash of drabber auburn, brown, white and black formed by Augustus and his family as they flew near the front of the group, as they drifted through the ravine. Carla, Bia, Tiago and Kira, together with Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Finnick, Felix, Lavender and Tyler and Ricardo and also Annie, Turquesa, Garrett and Músculo then spotted their non-Spix friends accompanying their parents as they headed for the meeting tree and Blu and company as they stood outside it. Then those familiar forms broke away from the group and headed over to Carla and company.

At the front of the group were Miranda, Jasmine, Annette and Finn from the Lear's macaws while red macaws Alexandre, Spinel, Poinsettia, Sheldon, Estelle and Benjamin with his sister Regina flew close behind them. After the red macaws flew Azul, Wilbur, Brooke and Bastian from the blue-and-gold macaws, Chlorophyll, Petunia and Ashley from the green macaws, Zebedee, Indigo, Penelope, Victor, Casper and Gloria from the hyacinth macaws, Fernanda and Ariel's boyfriend Eric from the blue-throated macaws, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie, Neytiri and Aiden from the glaucous macaws and last of all, Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Orion, Velocity, Diantha, Clemont and Serena accompanied by chestnut-fronted macaws Alessandro and Rhiannon, blue-headed macaws Mariposa and Kiawe, and golden conures Caspian and Citrine. As the group touched down before their Spix friends, Carla went up to them to greet them while behind, the other birds touched down before Blu and the other higher ranking Spix macaws and greeted them, Carla, Finnick, Justin and their siblings rushed at Eustace and his group and threw their wings around them for they were relieved to see them alive and well. As the Spix macaws locked their cockatoo, falcon and toucan friends in a group embrace, Stella, Luna and Sebastian touched down having been sent by Augustus to stick by them while he and Melissa their mother were in the meeting. After they broke the hug, Bia saw that the large bruise on the right side of Rosa's head had faded.

"How's your head, Rosa," she asked. Rosa's wing went to the area where the flying fox had walloped her with its stick during the skirmish leading to Waldo, Esmeralda, Ted and several other macaws' kidnap.

"It's getting better," she said gratefully, "The nurses of Alonso's tribe said that it should fade within a few more days."

"It's a wonder you didn't suffer a more serious injury," said Mariposa as she examined the fading black-blur bloom on the side of Rosa's head, visible just under the pale pink feathers.

"One of the flying foxes powerfully struck her on the head with a stick," explained Ashley, "It was hard enough to render her unconscious."

The Spix macaws all flinched in shock.

"It must have been alarming…" gasped Carla.

"It was," said Chlorophyll, "I actually thought that bat had killed her."

He then shot Rosa a gaze but Rosa shrugged.

"She's one tough hybrid cockatoo, I can tell you," said Tristan proudly, before his proud gaze turned to Clemont as he examined the healing scratches on his belly. "Not to mention her citron-crested girlfriend. To hear him take on Voldemort was amazing."

"Yeah, but he could have been killed," said Poinsettia in disapproval. Clemont just shot her an assertive look.

"That brute was strangling Porthos to death," he retorted, "Honestly, had I not taken action, he could have killed him."

"Well at least you didn't get too badly hurt," said Eustace, a pat on Clemont's back.

"And at least that injury hasn't become infected," added Milo. Clemont just sighed before turning to the couples that had sometimes argued during the massive delay of Augustus the other night. "And I can see that you guys have made up after arguing that other night," he said.

"We have, yes," said Chlorophyll, his gaze on Ashley, "It was just the atmosphere that caused immense tension between us."

"At least we've made up now," said Sheldon, a brief smile at Spinel, his pink-red girlfriend but then his face fell as thoughts about the dire situation crept in. The faces of the other non-Spix macaws also fell just as Spyro, the older son of Eragon and Andromeda came in on his bat-bird, Garnet, to spend some time with his macaw friends.

"I know what you're referring to," said he as he dismounted his bat-bird and patted him on the head, "The harrowing news and our leaders' reactions to it."

The group of macaws and some other birds gazed at him as Spyro approached them, a frown on his face. "You should have seen that of my, Bellerophon and Pandora's parents when Uncle Ophiuchus told them last night. They were absolutely outraged."

Spyro's gaze then flashed at the group of leaders and inner circle birds as they talked with Blu and Jewel. Among the group were D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, Phoebe and Levi for they had come to help as well. Then Spyro picked out Andromeda and Eragon as they stood with Ophiuchus, Anakin, Honeydew, Spock and some other archaeobirds and bat-birds and saw that their faces were still twisted into looks of thunder.

"They had been so furious in fact," said he, "That we had to keep our distance from them. Cousin Spock and Uncle Anakin had to look after me and my younger brother and sister until they calmed down."

"Soleado and Zoie had had the same reaction as well," said Azul as he stood with Brooke, "Dad was the one who told them everything."

"Rudi, our first cousin, once removed had also been utterly devastated," said Tristan as he stood with Neytiri, Aiden and his three siblings Trixie, Quincy and Larimar.

"In fact," said Aiden, "Rudi had been crying his heart out through the night."

"As had Reynaldo, Anita, and Flavio as well," added Zebedee. Fernanda and Eric just breathed a sad sigh and said nothing.

"Things have definitely taken a turn for the worst, I can tell you," said Miranda sorrowfully. "If something isn't done anytime soon, our homes are gonna be added to those greedy flying foxes' list of territories."

"That's why our leaders have come all the way here to discuss it," said Eric.

"And our Mom and Dad are gonna help you birds come up with an effective strategy to deal with this problem," said Sebastian as he walked in with his sisters Stella and Luna. The birds gazed back at the trio of young albino flying foxes, knowing that they were referring to Augustus and Melissa's knowledge of the colony and their tactics. Then Sebastian said as he gazed at Spyro, "And I'm sorry about what happened last night. Did your parents lose their tempers when they heard what had happened?"

"Lose their tempers?" snapped Spyro incredulously, "They almost EXPLODED. I and my two younger siblings had to keep well away from them until they had calmed down…"

"I hope your parents aren't angry with our mother for telling those furballs about your clan, Spyro," said Trixie timidly.

"Well, they're keeping their distance from your father, Trixie," said Spyro, "as they don't want to yell at him for what his mate had done," he crossed his wings and wing claws, "But all in all, it isn't anyone's fault anyway. It's just unfortunate that those rotten bats had picked your mother as a target for their information source through their sickly methods of interrogation."

"I couldn't agree more," said Sebastian disgustedly, "Our colony has always used brutal torture on birds for information. Countless have died from the abuse they had received from their interrogators."

"I'm so glad that I hadn't been taken to that place," breathed Tiago as he remembered almost getting kidnapped along with Spock, Azul and Lavender. The latter two nodded in agreement. Then Tiago turned to Garrett who had his still-missing tail.

"And Garrett here had been so brave in participating in the rescue of us four, along with Winona and the others," said he. Garrett just sighed as he remembered suffering the excruciating pain of having his tail feathers torn out and simply gazed down at his stubby tail. New feathers had begun to grow in to replace the ones that had been torn out but it would be a few weeks until his tail grew back fully.

"Too bad it came at a price though," commented Azul.

"Well at least I have suffered a torn tail and not a broken wing or even worse, a fatal stab wound," said Garrett. Then his gaze turned to Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Serena, Clemont, Orion, Velocity and Diantha and he smiled.

"And you eight have been incredibly brave as well," he added, "If it weren't for you overhearing the change in those sly winged foxes' plans, we would have been at a serious disadvantage."

"We would have been the ones to feed this information to you birds actually but unfortunately, we needed to spend some time in our colony in order to keep our allegiance to you birds at a low profile for as long as possible," said Sebastian.

"Had we left to tell you birds too soon," said Stella, "Our allegiance would have been blown earlier."

"We're sorry to have not to tell you about Ratigan's discovery of that dormindo, or 'sleeping' plant sooner," said Luna, "But at least those eight have done that for us. I have to say that you've got some pretty astute birds there."

"Oh, we just happened to ove r those bats talk about it," said Orion, "and we knew that it was urgent to warn the tribes and clans about it."

"That reinforced the reason why we didn't want to return to Rio," added Eustace. Carla shot a glare at the large healing bruise on the right side of Rosa's head, then at the scratch on Clemont's belly, the state of Orion and his still-healing scratches and partially tattered tail similar to Garrett's but to a lesser extent, and then at the fading bruising enclosing Serena's eye and frowned.

"But I still think you eight are putting yourselves in serious danger," she said in disapproval.

"That's right," said Wilbur, his glare especially on Clemont, "Especially with you challenging a bat that is twice your size and well-muscled. He could have seriously wounded or even killed you."

Clemont just said nothing and gazed at the scratch on his stomach.

Soon the meeting of the tribe and clan leaders and inner circle birds was underway. The group stood inside and out of the tree hollow with Blu, Jewel, Alonso, Felipe and Augustus and Melissa sat in the middle, talking about how they were going to tackle the next big problem. The first big decision has already been made.

"We've just about declared war on those flying foxes," said Alonso firmly.

"Yes," said Sapphire in agreement, "Those bats have gone beyond the point of no return. Not only have they trespassed in our land, failed to keep the truce and have caused so many deaths including Valentino," she paused briefly as she felt a wave of sadness come over her before continuing, "They have kidnapped and tortured some of us for information and are now threatening everyone in the Sanctuary de Amazon."

"Now that the colony knows just about every bit of key information regarding your tribes, clans, smaller groups, your habitats and how and why your home has not seen logging activity for such a while," added Augustus, before his eyes turned dark, "they will stop at nothing in planning and driving out their next tribe or clan…"

"Starting with the Lear's macaws," said Alonso, a nod to Monique, Sapphire, D'Artagnan and the other Lear's inner circle birds. The other non-Spix birds also nodded in agreement. Sapphire had already told them on the way to the Spix tribe's ravine about the grave danger her tribe was now in.

"Then that means an emergency evacuation of your tribe, D'Artagnan, Sapphire, the rest of you," said Felipe. At this fact, Sapphire, D'Artagnan and Monique's eyes flashed with a 'what!?' expression. Augustus backed Felipe's point up.

"That's right, Lear's macaws," he said, "The flying foxes won't take no for an answer when they invade a tribe or clan's territory and if you refuse to budge, your tribe could end up facing a serious massacre."

"But our ravine's our precious heirloom," snapped Sapphire, "We have lived there since our ancestors moved there from the Lear's macaw colony in Bahia."

"Well, those bats will still slaughter you to get your home and land, Sapphire," said Melissa firmly. Sapphire just uttered a short frustrated growl and shook her head. She then buried her face in her wings.

"What are we gonna do?" she asked. All eyes turned to Alonso and Verde and their inner circle birds for suggestions. Then Aramis stood up.

"We'll first evacuate the Lear's macaws into another part of the Sanctuary de Amazon for their safety," he explained but then he trailed off. "But the question is who will be able to take in the tribe for a bit?"

None of the others answered at first. The green and the blue-and-gold macaw tribes' homes were packed full with all the small group birds living with them; the Navyfeathers and the glaucous macaws already had the blue-throated macaw clan and the remaining survivors of the Bluewing Clan on their patch and Eragon and Andromeda's clan did not have much room for such a large tribe. The only options that remained were the Spix and the red tribes. Then Felipe stood up.

"I'll be the one to accommodate the Lear's macaws for a bit," he said firmly, "There is plenty of room for another tribe in our territory. They could take temporary refuge in there."

Pearl, Athos and the other red macaws with them shot Felipe a look. They were clearly reluctant to take in a tribe of birds numbering in the two-hundreds or perhaps more. However, the group knew they had no other alternative. Sapphire then reluctantly admitted defeat. After all, her tribe was in imminent danger of being massacred by the savage flying foxes.

"Okay, we'll go along with that," she said. D'Artagnan and Monique and the other Lear's macaws with them nodded in agreement. The others smiled at Sapphire's wise decision.

"We'll see to that when we get back to our homes," said Felipe. Then the group moved on and Blu stood up.

"Right, now that we've got the Lear's macaws' problem sorted," he said, "It is time for our next big question, the flying fox colony's tactics in combat."

"We know that the flying fox colony is several times the size of my tribe," said Soleado as he sat with Zoie, Porthos and several other blue-and-gold macaws, "So that means we're gonna need to team up and fight them."

"Well, if you're gonna declare war on the colony," said Augustus, "There's something else that's crucial that you need to know."

All eyes turned to him and Melissa.

"And what's that?" asked Jewel. Augustus gave the birds a dark look.

"Our colony," he said, "Or our former colony now, actually has a very sneaky tactic hidden in their membranous wings when a bird tribe or clan they are targeting to drive out and take their land choose to declare war on them."

All ears then cocked to listen to Augustus as he launched into an explanation of the tactic.

"When a bird tribe or clan go to war, you know the most vulnerable members of that tribe or clan, such as the chicks, parents with un-hatched eggs and under flight aged chicks, and the elderly always stay behind in the home habitat for safety reasons?" asked he to which the others nodded. Augustus went on, "Well, our former colony has found a way around this obstacle and that is sending in another group of flying foxes directly into a tribe or clan's habitat and slaughtering those birds while the fighters are busy warring with the flying foxes. Our, that is, my and Cicatriz's, great-grandfather was the one who came up with that tactic."

Immense horror and disbelief tore through the group.

"WHAT!?" shouted Felipe, Pearl and Athos together.

"Are you meaning to say that your colony simply use the war against a tribe or clan as a decoy while another group of flying foxes infiltrate their home and kill all the stayers; the families of them and the others!?" asked Aurora incredulously.

"Exactly," said Augustus. "It's been done several times before. One example is a clan of toucans of a species I cannot remember. While the clan members fit enough for the war fought against the colony, another group of flying foxes infiltrated their home and slaughtered the families and other members of the clan; chicks, elderly, eggs and all, and took over the trees and hollows, leaving the fighters with absolutely nothing after they had finished the war with the bats. Those devastated toucans had no choice but to leave after finding out what had happened to the stayers."

Then before any of the birds could protest, Melissa continued, "That is why we have said that you'd have absolutely NO chance against our sly colony and that you needed a double agent to help you. Now that we're no longer welcome in our colony, we are now more than happy to divulge you the secret tactics they use in driving out bird tribes and clans if they take the war option."

"But we can't just leave behind our families, chicks and un-hatched eggs and other vulnerable members of our tribes and clans in our habitats to face such a gruesome demise while we wage war against the flying foxes," muttered Athos.

"That is why you need a very cunning and very foolproof plan in protecting those members," said Augustus firmly.

"It could even mean you birds thinking outside the tree hollow," said Melissa. At first none of the birds, not even the smarter ones such as Blu or experienced former leaders like Eduardo and Mimi could think of a way along those branches. It was indeed a very difficult situation and problem. However, an idea entered Eragon and Andromeda's heads and they soon broke the silence.

"We could evacuate all those members of the Sanctuary's tribes, clans and smaller groups to a single secret place," said the former.

"I know my father Talonclaw back in Jurassic Jungle did that once when our clan and the clan of the two-winged archaeobirds were in grave danger of invasion by some invasive outsider rats intent on decimating us to take over our home," said his mate, "and he wanted to evacuate all the vulnerable members to a safe hiding place while the fittest members dealt with the threat. The elderly, chicks, parents with young chicks and un-hatched eggs of both clans hid together in a secret cave during the war against those rats which we won. Maybe we could apply that tactic here as well?"

"That sounds logical, Eragon and Andromeda," said Blu, "But haven't you forgotten how many elderly, chicks, kids, parents with young chicks and un-hatched eggs are in the entire Sanctuary de Amazon?"

"We're gonna need a large cave or somewhere secretive to hide that many members," said Aurora, "That is, a cave that is big enough to house that many birds."

"Falkor's infirmary cave is out of the question," said Flavio, "That's only big enough to house a small group of birds, much less a large clan of more than a hundred birds or a tribe of two to three hundred individuals."

As he said this, Levi called to the others outside the hollow. He had been looking somewhere and had obtained an idea.

"Hey, guys," he shouted, attracting the attention of the other birds and Augustus and Melissa, "How about the Spix tribe's waterfall cave?"

He gestured to the Spix tribe's ravine waterfall while the others looked on.

In a few seconds, the whole group was behind the waterfall, examining the cave. The cave was massive; large enough to house a tribe of up to three-hundred macaws with plenty of room to spare. Because of this, it was the Spix tribe's important evacuation point in the event of a forest fire. Blu examined the sheer size of the waterfall cave while Zephyr looked on sceptically.

"I'm not sure whether our cousin Nuvem has told those bats about this spot but I hope he hasn't," he said.

"Apparently not," said Brisa, "He did say that he told them about our tribe and ravine but he didn't say anything about the waterfall cave…"

Nearby, Roberto and Aurora examined a dip in the side of the cave and also the wall which was riddled with countless ledges. The waterfall cave extended a good distance back and ended in a dead end but several tunnels branched from the end and continued onward underground. Eduardo and the other leaders also examined the waterfall cave while Blu began to put his highly-developed mental math skills into action. He estimated the sizes of each of the bird tribe and clan, calculated an estimate of the parents with young chicks, un-hatched eggs, elderly and adolescent macaws or other bird in each tribe and clan, and then imagined them all hiding in this cave. As he did that, Felipe scanned the cave as well.

"We're gonna need nesting material and food as well," he said, "Especially food, which we're gonna need plenty of for the coming days until the impending war is over."

"We could perhaps store it in that ridge and pit over there," said Athos, a nod to the areas where Roberto and Aurora were. Roberto looked up at the red macaws.

"That's a good suggestion actually," he said, "We'd never thought about that."

"Have you birds reached your decision on where to hide your most vulnerable members yet?" asked Augustus. Blu then came back, a wide and hopeful smile and glint in his eyes.

"I think this area will be just suitable as our secret evacuation point," he said, "It's very large and continues further on underground in the form of three tunnels… there are plenty of ledges along the walls… and whenever our tribe hides in here, there is always a LOT of room to spare. We could perhaps use this spot as I believe it would house hundreds of vulnerable members from five tribes, several clans and smaller groups as well, with enough room for plenty of food in addition."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," said Jewel with a wider smile.

"Blu, you're a genius, like always," said Eduardo, "I should have seen what talent you had brought with you that you developed during your time as a p…"

"Animal companion," said Mimi before Eduardo could accidentally say Blu's most detested 'p' word and offend his son-in-law, knowing what he was like with that word.

"Animal companion, of course," said Eduardo. Blu just smiled before turning to Eragon and Andromeda who stood with, Ophiuchus, Anakin and Spock, the latter's brothers and cousin.

"I think they should be called geniuses as well," said he, "They were the ones who suggested the idea."

"So did Levi," said Eragon, a nod to Levi as he stood with Rudi and Valeria.

"Of course, yes," said Blu. Then as soon as the place of evacuation had been sorted, the leaders and inner-circle birds returned to the tree hollow once again.

"Right, now that's sorted," said Blu, "What's the next step?"

"Well, we're gonna evacuate the Lear's macaws first," said Felipe, "But during that, we're gonna gather some food from our territories to bring here and into the waterfall cave…"

"We're gonna issue Cicatriz and Iracebeth a message that we have declared war on the colony as well," said Jewel fiercely.

"We'll do that as well," said Felipe. "And as soon as enough food has been gathered, we're gonna send the elderly first and then all our young and parents with un-hatched eggs. Some young adult macaws will go in there to look after them as well. There in the waterfall cave will they stay until the war is over. Hopefully, they'll be safe in there…"

"And besides that," said Athos, "Should anything go wrong, the young adult macaws will be able to deal with it."

The others also nodded and murmured in agreement.

"That sounds effective," said Soleado.

"Definitely," said Reynaldo.

"I like that idea," said Rudi.

"It will surely keep all our vulnerable tribe and clan members safe," added Alonso.

"We'll have to let everyone else in the Sanctuary de Amazon know of the plan when we get back to our homes," said Marinho. Blu then decided to close the meeting.

"Then it's settled," he said as everyone stood up, "We're gonna get down to this right away. You lot return to your tribes and clans and tell the others of the plans while we send the messages to Cicatriz and Iracebeth that we've declared war on their colony…"

"You'd better get these tasks done as soon as possible as well," said Augustus, "We don't know when our former colony is going to proceed with the next stage of their plan which is invading the Lear's macaws' ravine…"

He turned worriedly to D'Artagnan, Sapphire and Monique but the three wore confident expressions on their faces.

"Don't worry," said Sapphire, "We've got it covered. What we're gonna do is gather a lot of food from our territory and haul it to Felipe's tribe's home first and then we'll bring it here."

"We'll help you lot with that," said Pearl. Then soon, the group all moved to outside as Blu dismissed the meeting. As the non-Spix birds prepared to leave, Blu gazed at Jewel, Eduardo, Mimi, Roberto, Aurora, Zephyr and Brisa and sighed.

"I hope it works, folks," he said in a low voice.

"It's just GOT to, Blu," said Jewel seriously, "It's just GOT to."