Chapter 47- Dalek's true colours begin to be revealed
Back at the Sanctuario del Paradiso
Sandalwood lay sat up at the foot of the flying fox tree, his gaze wandering into the night air of the artificial jungle lit by the moonlight streaming in through the windows and the artificial light from the human zone. His mind was saturated by the churning waves of worry and thoughts of his family and friends back in Rio. Even though he and the other kidnapped kids have been here for around four nights now and they have met a variety of animals from other parts of the world and had made new friends, the homesickness was still boiling. Sandalwood felt completely faded; he missed the loving embrace of his mother Stella, his father Soren's stories, Blu, Bia and Poinsettia and their knowledge of scientific facts, especially the flight in animals which Sandalwood found most fascinating, and his true home, the Sanctuary de Amazon in Brazil. Furthermore, Sandalwood missed being able to fly dearly but his fear of heights and flying resulting from the traumatic event at the clutches of some of those horrible toucan chicks was still a tall brick wall. Some of the other animals, especially Shade and Sadie, have been trying to help Sandalwood to overcome that fear but it had not been very easy. Despite being successful in scaling that tree to get to some mischievous bright green lizards as they stole Mina the Tasmanian devil and her cubs' meat to retrieve that meal, Sandalwood still dreaded the thought of flying again, as well as hanging from a branch with his feet. It truly was a massive obstacle for this young flying fox pup and it made him weep.
The homesickness and missing of Brazil and their parents and relatives also plagued the minds of Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Acerola and the other kids and like Sandalwood, they felt faded as well. At night they would dream about their parents, grandparents and friends but those dreams were always shattered by poachers coming in and snatching them away from those relatives. Sandalwood remembered Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine the Catalina macaws mention and discuss about dreaming about themselves with Wilbur and Poinsettia, their parents, and the rest of the gang and playing with them in the Brazilian jungle until bars suddenly appeared, jolting the four awake and bringing tears to their eyes, and Polaris said that she had dreamt about herself chasing after Finnick, Kira, Achernar and Diego through some trees until those four faded while behind her, fiendish forms of poachers and crows manifested and caught her, resulting in her waking up. Sandalwood also remembered himself dreaming about Soren, Stella and also Blu and the others cheerfully inviting him into playing with them before a bunch of toucan-like forms with devilish glares and laughter escaping their beaks interrupted the blissful scene, bound him and tossed him into a lake during one night. This was the second time he had had a dream with a theme like that since his first arrival in the artificial jungle when one of the humans dropped him from the cage. Sandalwood's eyes, which were beginning to ooze tears again, then moved the bat's gaze towards the silvery shaft of moonlight as it flowed like liquid silver through the window and onto the ground. In the darkness, movements flashed by, the nocturnal animals up to their nightly business but those animals were too busy in their search for food or play to notice the Brazilian flying fox as he began to weep.
"Oh, how faded I feel," whispered Sandalwood quietly, a tear falling from his right eye, before his teary eyed gaze rose upward to gaze at the dark ceiling. An image of his mother Stella, father Soren, aunt Luna, uncle Sebastian and aunt Anabelle, cousin Ferdinand, and grandparents Augustus and Melissa, and many of the family's friends including Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago formed in his mind.
"Where are you now, Mom, Dad?" the flying fox pup wailed, his gaze scanning the darkness as though he yearned for his family to appear. The flying fox pup then rose to his feet and began to burst into a mournful song, "Where are you now?"
As Sandalwood began to sing his heart out, several nocturnal animals turned his way, gazing at him in wonder.
"Where are you now?" sang Sandalwood again, "Mom and Dad… Grandpa, Grandma… where are you now?"
The flying fox pup then wandered into the moonlight shaft where his amber fur shone brightly in its silvery fluid rays.
"I'm fay-ded…" cried Sandalwood, "I'm fay-ded… so lost, I'm fay-ded…"
The flying fox pup continued to sing the song Atreyu had taught him for a few more minutes until he finally retreated to a nearby rock and slumped down to weep.
"Oh, Mom, Dad, Aunt Luna… I feel so lost without you…" he cried, "And the others with me also feel lost without you too, Mr Blu, Mrs Jewel…" he then began to release quiet sobs. As Sandalwood continued to cry, some forms approached him from the dark jungle.
"Sandalwood?" asked one of the forms, making Sandalwood jump and look in the speaker's way. However, it was only Connie much to his relief. Accompanying the grey-headed flying fox pup were some of the macaw chicks: Steven and Lars, and Adenine and Guanine's younger brother and sister Cytosine and Thymine, and Sirius and Spica, and they all wore sympathetic looks on their faces.
"Are you alright?" asked Steven.
"You don't look very happy at all," said Lars. Sandalwood bowed his head and shed a tear as Cytosine, Thymine, Sirius and Spica went over to him to comfort him.
"I just miss my home," replied Sandalwood in a fragile voice, "My family… my relatives…"
"We all do," said Sirius.
"We heard you sing that song Atreyu sung the other night," said Spica. Sandalwood shot her and Connie a worried gaze.
"I've not woken any of the grownups up, have I?" he asked. To his relief, Connie and Spica shook their heads. Then a curious gaze came upon Connie's face.
"Why do you miss Brazil so much, anyway?" she asked, "This place is awesome," she gestured a wing to the artificial night jungle as she said this.
"Yes," said Steven, "This place isn't called 'Paradise Sanctuary' for nothing, you know. We're well-looked after, cared for and protected from potential poachers who would have put us through the trauma of the stinking animal trade."
Lars nodded in agreement. However, Cytosine, Thymine, Sirius and Spica all stomped quietly over to the moonlight and gazed at the night sky through the window, the sadness and frustration beginning to boil within them once again. Sandalwood, a tearful and furious glare on his face, followed.
"You should have seen how homesick some of us have been, Connie, Lars and Steven," snapped Sandalwood angrily, his eyes beginning to shed tears once again, "Polaris and Achernar have not been doing much except sit on a tree branch for most of the day yearning to be back with their parents and brother…"
"Betelgeuse had stayed in our hollow for almost an entire day the other day," added Sirius, "And Sylvester, who is still very badly shaken from our ordeal in the Compartment of the Carnivores, had been weeping and wishing that his parents, sister and adopted brother were here."
"But…" began Lars but Sirius cut him off.
"We don't belong here, Lars, Steven and Connie," snapped the son of Bia and Virgil, his brown eyes ablaze with anguish, distress and anger shooting towards the trio. He then advanced furiously towards them and forced them to back away, "It may be called Paradise Sanctuary, but it's NOTHING at ALL like paradise to ANY OF US!"
"Shhh!" hushed Connie, her concerned glance flashing at her sleeping parents Sadie and Shade and the other flying foxes as they slept in the flying fox tree branches, "You'll wake some of the daytime animals up if you continue to shout like that."
However, Sirius, Spica, Cytosine, Thymine and Sandalwood were too flooded with anguish to even care.
"Don't you know how it FEELS to be torn away from your own home, and your family and relatives and friends?" cried Spica, a mixture of rage and despair lacing her face, tears falling uncontrollably from her eyes, "And brought to a PLACE filled with strange ANIMALS, some of WHICH are nasty and LIKE TO MOCK NEWCOMERS!?"
Her and Sirius's bodies began to tremble as the anguish continued to boil ever more within them while Cytosine, Thymine and Sandalwood continued to shed more and more tears. Steven tried to calm the raging fires within the four chicks and the pup.
"But… we're your family now," said the scarlet macaw chick, "And besides that, haven't you been told about the impossibility of you lot's returning to Brazil?"
"Yes, it's basically impractical because it's such a long way from here for one," said Connie, "And you'd not know which way to go for another, especially since you're young like us, and could wander into danger..."
"And thirdly," put in Lars, wary of the trembling chicks and pup as rage continued to boil within them, "Our human carers wouldn't allow you lot to leave anyway since some of you guys are part of some extremely rare species, and they don't want you guys to risk running into any trouble that could endanger you as Connie said."
"We don't CARE!" bellowed Sandalwood, making Connie, Steven and Lars flinch and back away more, especially as he turned to a nearby small rock and swiped it viciously and hard with his wing; the steam pressure within him finally reaching critical, "WE WANNA GO HOME!"
"This ISN'T OUR HOME, even though YOU MYA SAY IT IS!" put in Sirius as he also kicked a stone away with a talon before turning his fiery glare at Connie and the two scarlet macaw chicks, "And YOU THREE AND YOUR FAMILIES aren't OUR families, even though YOU MAY BE OUR FRIENDS!"
"B-b-b-but…" stammered Steven but Cytosine surged forward, tears flying like rain from his eyes.
"AND YOU KNOW WHAT HURTS MOST?!" he barked, "It's SEEING YOU THREE WITH PARENTS AND SIBLINGS to SNUGGLE UP TO and TELL YOU STORIES EVERY NIGHT… to TURN TO WHENEVER YOU HAVE TROUBLE…" Cytosine's colourful plumage spiked out like a porcupine fish's spines and he began to tremble like a building in an earthquake, his eyes shedding tears uncontrollably, "and to COMFORT YOU WHENEVR YOU ARE DOWN… whereas WE are FAR AWAY FROM OUR own FAMILIES!"
Steven, Connie and Lars didn't know how to reply to this, so they continued to watch the two Spix macaws, two Catalina macaws and the Brazilian flying fox continue to rant and rail and shed tears everywhere.
"We WANNA GO HOME!" screeched Sandalwood at Connie, Steven and Lars, "Do you UNDERSTAND THAT!? WE WANNA GO HOME!"
"Yes," put in Sirius as he violently kicked away another stone and lashed at a nearby bush and tore out some leaves in a rage, much to the fear of the two scarlet macaw chicks and grey-headed flying fox pup, "We DON'T WANNA spend ANOTHER DAY in this so-called PARADISE AT ALL!"
"We FEEL SO LOST AND FADED WITHOUT our REAL PARENTS AND FAMILIES!" put in Spica and with that, she kicked away a fruit shell so fiercely that the shell actually flew like a football across the clearing for up to two metres. Steven whimpered at the volcanic eruption and huddled against Lars and Connie. The three were clearly afraid that the five distressed kids before them could launch into a full-blown meltdown any moment, with nasty consequences for the noise could wake up some of the grownup animals, and Connie was particularly concerned for her family and friends who were asleep in the flying fox tree.
"And believe it or NOT, WE'RE ON THE exact SAME PERCH AS ATREYU!" bellowed Cytosine as he and Thymine kicked away some more stones and sand, sending sand grains flying everywhere in a cloud.
"WE MISS OUR HOMELAND, OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!" put in Thymine, "Exactly like how HE DOES!"
"Sirius, Sandalwood…" began Lars but he flinched when "NO!" exploded from Sirius's beak and the scarlet macaw chick and Steven's older brother found himself on the receiving end of a fiery brown glare from an enraged Spix macaw chick.
"YOU may say this is our HOME BUT IT'S NOT!" cried Sirius loudly, tears falling in greater amounts from his eyes.
"YOU don't understand HOW WE FEEL AT ALL," shouted Sandalwood, "IN FACT, only ONE of our NEW FRIENDS TRULY understands how WE FEEL, and that's ATREYU!"
"WE WOULDN'T be surprised if HE HAD BEEN through the SAME STORM WE are going through when HE WAS BROUGHT HERE!" bellowed Cytosine and with that, he sent another stone flying with another vicious kick. Lars, Connie and Steven flinched as they watched the stone fly in the direction of the human zone's light, hoping that it hadn't struck a nocturnal animal on the way. Luckily, it had not. Then before the trio could think things could get any worse, the fires of anguish, despair and depression raging within Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Cytosine and Thymine finally died down.
"We don't want to stay here in this so-called paradise 'conservation' area for the rest of our lives," grumbled Sandalwood quietly and mournfully. He then eyed a stone and sent it flying with a hard swipe of his wing as his rage flared up for another brief moment once again. Lars, Connie and Steven looked on timidly as the stone flew towards a tree trunk (not that of the flying fox tree) and slammed into it, before clattering to the sandy and soil ground at the foot of the tree. Lars, Connie and Steven then gazed at the five as they crumpled to their knees or feet and began to weep in the moonlight, the steam having been released enough for them to calm down. The three were stuck for words, glued to the spot by immense dumbfound by the outburst of the two Spix macaws, two Catalina macaws and flying fox pup to do anything.
As the trio continued to watch Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Cytosine and Thymine as they wept, several more forms came in.
"Hey, Steven, guys," said one of them, a macaroni penguin with a squeaky voice, "'Ave you seen Atreyu? I can't find him anywhere around our area."
"Bellatrix, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Guanine and Adenine are missing as well," said a hyacinth macaw.
"As are Acerola, Lillie and Sylvester, who are missing from the hollow and the flying fox tree, and I'm concerned for Sylvester for he's still missing much of his tail," put in another macaw chick, a glaucous macaw.
"Um… maybe they've gone for a walk?" asked Steven. Then the hyacinth macaw, Sugilite's gaze travelled to the very depressed Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Cytosine and Thymine, their eyes bloodshot from crying so much. She went over to them with the glaucous macaw, Arcturus, following. As she and Arcturus went to comfort the weeping Spix and Catalina macaw chicks and Sandalwood, Sugilite shot Steven, Lars and Connie a glare.
"Did you upset those five?" asked the large hyacinth chick fiercely. The two scarlet macaws and grey-headed flying fox immediately shook their heads.
"No," said Connie, "Why would we do that?"
"We were only trying to comfort them but they kept ranting and railing about their desire to return to Brazil," said Steven. The moment that painful word left Steven's beak and reached Sugilite and Arcturus' ears, the two macaws both bowed their heads and turned away.
"I'm not surprised," grumbled Arcturus glumly, "They miss our homes and our families."
"As do we," put in Sugilite. The two then turned to Lars, Steven and Connie.
"We've wanted to leave this place and reunite with our families since we came here," said Arcturus.
"We feel like we've been ripped from our home and shoved into a so-called paradise," added Sugilite angrily. Connie and the two scarlet brothers backed away, fearful that these two macaw chicks were going to erupt like how Sirius, Spica, Sandalwood, Cytosine and Thymine had done a minute ago.
"We're NOT gonna spend the REST of OUR lives fading away in this ROTTEN place… away from our parents and be raised by grownups we don't recognise as true family," added Arcturus, "We belong in Brazil… in the Amazon rainforest."
Sirius, Spica, Sandalwood, Cytosine and Thymine, together with Sugilite, all nodded in agreement.
"That's right," added the last one, her eyes threatening to spill tears, "Seriously, we don't wanna stay in this miserable place."
"Oh, for the last time," muttered Connie as annoyance flowed through her, "It's NOT possible for you lot to go back to Brazil."
The grey-headed flying fox then walked away, her wings on the back of her head as she simmered in annoyance at Sandalwood and company's refusal to take in the facts, and Steven and Lars, along with JD, shot Sandalwood and the others an agreeing look, much to the immense despair of the latter group but before these birds and flying fox could launch into another outburst, the sound of two doors opening and closing, one after the other, reached their ears.
"Oh, one of the humans is coming in to check on the nocturnal animals," said JD. With that, the group all dashed for the safety of a large bush as the human then closed the second door of the small compartment and doorway from the artificial jungle to the human zone through the barrier and proceeded further into the jungle, some sort of food bucket in his arms. However, he was unaware that something had sneaked past his pacing feet as he opened and closed the doors.
As the human then walked away to do his night tasks, Sugilite saw a strange object appear to float away from the person. The object glinted brownish in the light and there appeared to be two bumps on it.
"What is that flying thing?" she asked. The others followed the hyacinth macaw chick's gaze.
"What flying thing?" asked JD.
"I hope you're not seeing things," said Steven sceptically. Then Sirius saw movement of the same object but then he paused to listen for he had heard something.
"What is it, Sirius?" asked Steven but Sirius held a wing to tell him to be quiet. The others stopped to listen. It sounded like a muffled chirping noise.
"Sounds like someone's chick chirping in their hollow," said Steven but then he remembered something, "Wait a minute, all the chicks of the daytime birds are asleep in their nests. How can there be a chick of one of those bird species chirping at this time of night?"
"Unless it's restless," suggested Connie. Then Cytosine took his turn to listen.
"That chick doesn't just sound restless," he said, "It sounds in distress."
Indeed the chirps did. The muffled squeaks Sandalwood and the others heard clearly sounded distressed but also furious. Furthermore, those angered chirps weren't emanating from a hollow. They were emanating from near the floating dome thing. Then a sense of familiarity struck Cytosine and Thymine as they listened closely to the chirps. Those chirps didn't belong to any chick. They were Betelgeuse's.
"That sounds one of our cousins," said Cytosine. The moment he said this, dread came upon him, Thymine, Sandalwood and the others apart from Steven, Connie, Lars and JD.
"Which of your cousins?" asked Steven.
"Antares?" asked Sandalwood. Cytosine and Thymine only gazed at the scarlet macaw chick and the Brazilian flying fox pup in reply. It was then that Arcturus and Sugilite saw something wriggle and squirm near the floating dome in the glint of light from the human zone. A hiss then erupted from beneath the dome and the wriggling thing shook violently and slammed into the ground, producing a cry of pain, striking a horrible feeling within Cytosine, Thymine, Sandalwood and the others. Then Sirius, Sugilite, Arcturus, Sandalwood, Sylvester and JD began to tremble. They knew that vicious hiss and who it belonged to.
"I hope it's not what, or who, I think it is…" whispered JD and with that, he began to follow the floating hat and bag. Sandalwood, Steven, Lars, Connie and the others with them followed closely behind the macaroni penguin.
Moments later, another form entered the darkness, this time from Dundee and his inner circle's tent. It was an echidna, and she wore an annoyed look on her face.
"I hope those wailing kids have shut their noise up," she muttered quietly to herself. Kiara had been rudely awoken by Sandalwood's wails and his, along with Sirius, Spica, Cytosine and Thymine's, shouts, "They should know that it is past their bedtime for one and the nocturnal animals' time for another. Not to mention that other diurnal animals are trying to sleep…"
Her face twisted into a weary, tiredness-laced glare, Kiara walked further out into the dark jungle, a yawn leaving the mouth on the end of her long snout. She then began to search for whoever had been making that racket. A nocturnal mammal darted by and flashed Kiara a curious look.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?" it asked.
"Are you lot making that racket?" hissed Kiara in quiet retort, "You know there are diurnal animals trying to sleep."
The mammal, which appeared to be some sort of rare weasel or ferret, shook its head and darted away into the dark jungle, leaving Kiara to roll her eyes and move on.
As the echidna began to search for the noise makers, she heard the sounds of wing-flaps travel through the dark air. Kiara raised her snout and eyes and, to her surprise, she spotted several chicks, and a flying fox pup, approach her. Three were red macaws with two having blue or teal wing flight feathers and a colourful dividing contour band on their wings and a third, colourful wings and a tattered tail, one was a blue macaw with pigtails, two were colourful macaws, one was a toucan and the other chick was a penguin who ran after the flying chicks.
As the group, which were Rigel, Antares, Bellatrix, Sylvester, Lillie, Acerola, Guanine and Adenine, and Atreyu running behind them, approached an astonished Kiara, the flying kids touched clumsily down before the echidna and began to puff and pant rapidly for they had been flying so fast, and for Atreyu, running, especially through the double door entrance compartment as the human left the artificial jungle.
"What are you nine doing up at this time of night!?" demanded Kiara as the nine kids continued to puff and pant, "You should be asleep!"
Adenine then stood up to speak to Kiara as soon as he got his breath back.
"There's something we have found that you should know but you're not gonna believe this," t oldest Catalina chick said. However, Kiara assumed that he and company were playing some sort of prank on her.
"Oh, Adenine, kids," she muttered.
"No, we're being serious here," said Antares, "We've been investigating some of the rooms in the human zone and…"
Kiara flashed the three-quarter scarlet macaw chick a disbelieving shock.
"You went WHERE!?" she retorted, making him and the other eight flinch. Then Acerola came forward.
"W-we found a list of rare animal species in one of the rooms," she said.
"Many of which had ticks next to them," put in Bellatrix.
"And that's not all," added Guanine, "We also found of list of aims the humans seemed to have written down in one of the rooms and those aims revolved around catching some adult Spix, Lear's, glaucous and Cuban red macaws and also some Dominican green-and-yellow macaws and macaws of some other rare and unheard-of species from Brazil to bring here for breeding purposes…"
"Of course our human carers are likely to bring in some adult macaws to increase the number of those rare species," snapped Kiara irritably, "this place is a conservation area. What do you expect?"
Frustration rolled through Adenine's group. It was clear that the message they were desperately trying to get through to Kiara was blocked by her loyalty to the humans who worked on the Paradise Sanctuary when in fact there was a deeper… and rather dark… motivation behind the humans' caring for the animals in the area, many of which were very rare and critically endangered. Kiara was then about to scold the nine for staying up past their bedtime and entering the forbidden human zone when suddenly, someone shouted her name.
"Kiara!"
Kiara snapped her gaze from Adenine's group to the caller and saw several nocturnal mammals and reptiles run in, alarmed looks lacing their faces.
"What is it?" snapped the echidna irritably. The nocturnal mammals, which were rare species of shrews and nocturnal ferrets, and the reptiles, which were rare nocturnal lizards, screeched to a halt but nothing could prepare Kiara for what one of the lizards said next.
"We've seen the chameleon carry something in a sack past our burrow," said the lizard, "And we believe he may have captured one of the parrot chicks."
The colour drained from the skin under the fur of Kiara's face and Adenine and company gazed at her. Rigel then cupped a wing to speak to Antares, Bellatrix and Atreyu and whispered, "That happened while we were in the human zone carrying out our investigation…"
The three shot her a dreaded look. They were clearly reluctant to explain to Kiara that one of their comrades and the sister of Rigel and Antares, Betelgeuse, had likely been captured by that dreaded, parrot-hating chameleon named Dalek. Then suddenly, Rigel, Atreyu, Antares, Bellatrix and the other five with them all jolted as Kiara's voice barked at the nocturnal witnesses.
"Take us there as FAST AS YOU CAN!" she bellowed, "But wait here until I've alerted some of the inner circle animals."
The ferrets, shrews and lizards nodded and dashed off, Adenine and company following.
"Adenine, you lot, OI!" barked Kiara. Too late; the group of young chicks had already disappeared into the darkness. Frustration swamping her, the echidna dashed for the tent to seek help.
Meanwhile, Sandalwood, Sirius and Spica, Cytosine and Thymine, Sugilite and Arcturus, together with Steven, Lars, Connie and JD, continued to follow the floating hat and bag, which were worn and held by Dalek who was utilising his colour-changing abilities to camouflage himself into his surroundings and giving the illusion that his namesake aliens' dome hat was floating, continued in a certain direction, unaware that he had eleven pairs of eyes watching him from the darkness a safe distance away. The group had been sneaking from one bush or tree to the next and keeping their distance from the chameleon as he continued creeping towards somewhere, the writhing Betelgeuse in the bag. As the chameleon continued through this part of the artificial jungle, Sandalwood, Sirius and JD sensed this area to be familiar, but it was not at all a nice feeling, and it sent shivers down these birds and flying fox pup's backs. Steven, Lars and Connie also felt this place to be chillingly familiar, having been down here before. However, they continued after the chameleon as he continued to carry the bagged Betelgeuse off towards somewhere. The pursuit continued until finally, the chameleon stopped. Sandalwood and the others peered out from behind a bush and a tree trunk, being careful to avoid the shaft of moonlight that flowed onto the floor through another window. Sirius timidly gazed this way and that.
"This is where… that Lusamine bat and her comrades chased us…" he whispered.
"What is that chameleon doing near that barrier?" came Steven's voice. The others followed his gaze.
"Barrier?" asked Sugilite confused. Then Sirius gazed hard at something and saw small specks of metallic glints hovering in the air. As he did, his blood froze and his heart dropped. He recognised this barrier immediately.
"That's the barrier to the Compartment of the Carnivores," he whispered.
"The exact same place where we were forced to escape through a hole in that barrier when Dalek chased us and tore out Sylvester's tail feathers," said Sandalwood. His body trembled like a leaf as he gazed at the familiar spot. JD also felt very nauseated. Then the group continued to watch the chameleon as he lifted the bag and shook it. His domed hat rotated, indicating that Dalek was examining his surroundings to make sure that no-one was watching. Connie commanded the group to duck, which they did and escaped the chameleon's line of sight. Then seeing that there was no-one watching him, or so he thought, Dalek resumed shaking Betelgeuse out of the bag. A bundle of red feathers with colourful wings then plopped onto the sand but the moment she did, Betelgeuse tried to make a break for it but was immediately seized by an invisible finger-fused hand. Immediately, the three-quarter scarlet chick began to writhe and screech but another finger-fused hand clasped over her beak, muffling her screams. Thymine and Cytosine then sprang into action and prepared to fly out of their hiding place.
"We're NOT gonna have that scaly beast hurt our cousin," hissed Cytosine fiercely but then a flipper appeared and blocked his and Thymine's path. JD had spotted movement through the mesh, as had Connie and Steven, so these two took to the air (Connie being tossed into the air by JD at her request for flying foxes could not launch into the air from the ground like most flying birds) to get a better view of the creatures as they approached the mesh on the other side, the Carnivore Compartment land.
"What do you see, you two?" asked Sandalwood. Connie and Steven squinted at the forms as they approached the invisible Dalek as he continued to restrain the furiously writhing Betelgeuse. However, the area was so dark the two could not make out the forms' shapes, but they saw that the shadowy figures had glowing eyes. However, these eyes were no pretty lights. Those lights had a very sinister glint to them and based on their brightness, Steven and Connie landed on one conclusion but it was a deduction that made them shudder.
As the glowing-eyed creatures approached the invisible Dalek, Betelgeuse continued to writhe and screech muffled screeches angrily in the invisible chameleon's grasp but the chameleon kept a firm grip on her to restrain her. Then one of the glowing pairs of eyes floated over to a certain hole in the barrier, the exact same hole through which Sandalwood and the others had been forced to escape through, and gazed expectantly at Dalek. As Sandalwood and the others watched the invisible chameleon, they saw Betelgsue get turned in the air, the chameleon's hands holding her in a certain way. However, she lunged at the invisible chameleon with her claws and caught the creature's cheek under the seemingly floating dome. A hiss of agony exploded from the chameleon's invisible mouth as a scratch was carved into his cheek. The chameleon's reaction dropped Betelgeuse but before she could make a break for it, she was seized by a pair of invisible hands once again.
"LET ME GO AT ONCE, you FILTHY, BEASTLY, SCALED…" screeched the young red macaw and with that, she spat an insult so caustic that her parents Spinel and Sheldon would certainly cuff her if they heard her say it. Cytosine, Thymine, Sirius and Spica then prepared to explode from the hiding place and dive at Dalek, looks of thunder saturating their faces and the urge to claw Dalek's scaly face in volcanically erupting within them. However, before the four could make the lunge, the wicked chameleon did something that was unthinkable. Holding Betelgeuse so hard that her breath was drawn in one hand, Dalek's other invisible hand seized the flight feathers of one of her wings, the left one, and then without hesitation, Dalek pulled on them as hard as he could.
"What are you DOING!?" bellowed Betelgeuse but then the most agonising pain shot through her left wing, making her scream at the top of her lungs but because Dalek had held her so hard, the screams were only short bursts as she struggled for breath, but she writhed as though having a seizure in Dalek's grasp. Accompanying the short bloodcurdling screams of agony was a tear of feathers from skin and within moments, the sadistic chameleon had yanked out Betelgeuse's primary flight feathers. Baby cerulean flight feathers with red undersides then rained onto the floor under the agonised chick's location. Then Dalek promptly shoved Betelgeuse through the barrier and to the glowing-eyed creatures. That did it. Sirius, along with Spica, Cytosine, Thymine, Sandalwood and Sugilite; hot rage bringing through them and turning their blood into pure magma, finally exploded from their hiding place and charged towards Dalek, enraged screeches exploding from their beaks and Sandalwood's mouth as they rocketed, or in Sandalwood's case, charged, towards Dalek.
As these six rushed towards the chameleon as he released devilish hissy laughs, Arcturus turned tail and rushed off in the opposite direction to get help while Steven, Connie, JD and Lars shot after Sandalwood and the five macaws with him as they rushed towards Dalek.
"You get help while we rescue Betelgeuse, Arcturus," cried Connie as the glaucous macaw and only son of Trixie and Aiden left. Arcturus flashed a nod to Connie's group and disappeared into the darkness, while Connie and the other three charged after Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Cytosine, Thymine and Sugilite as they brutally tackled Dalek, shocking him into turning a visible green, his usual colour, to the ground, on his back, with Sirius clasping a talon to the chameleon's neck. Dalek's hat flew to one side and clattered to the ground and soon, Dalek found himself on the receiving end of a fiery brown glare belonging to a spiky blue ball of feathers, its talon clasped hard onto his neck and threatening to cut off his breathing.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO BETELGEUSE!?" bellowed Sirius at the top of his lungs. Dalek, however, only glared back at Sirius with an extremely acidic glare. While Sirius held Dalek down with Sandalwood, Cytosine, Thymine, Spica and Sugilite restraining the chameleon's limbs and tail, Connie, Steven, Lars and JD shot past and rushed over to the barrier mesh, but when they peered through the wire netting, they saw nothing. Sandalwood also gazed into the mesh and when he saw the same result; his heart sank like a lump of very dense metal in water. Dalek then released an evil, fiendish, snakelike laugh. It was clear he had shoved Betelgeuse into that dangerous area on purpose and when Sirius realised this, he glared at Dalek and without a second thought due to extreme rage, he jumped up and slashed the chameleon across the forehead as hard as he could with his talons, making the chameleon jolt and throw the Spix macaw, along with Spica, Sugilite, Cytosine, Sandalwood and Thymine clean off his body. Then his fingerless hands flew to his face and clasped his scratched forehead, blood trickling over the pad-like hands. Sirius looked on without a sliver of sympathy.
"I hope it hurts, you rodent with scales and a harpoon-like tongue," he hissed spitefully, the temper he had inherited from his maternal grandmother Jewel manifesting. Dalek then shot Sirius a volcanic glare and hissed extremely loudly and Sirius, his grandmother's volcanic, vengeful temper taking control, ducked and spread his wings, poised to launch into a potentially bloody battle with Dalek. Dalek, his face bleeding from the scratches inflicted on him by Sirius and Betelgeuse on his forehead and cheek, also poised himself to attack and soon, the Spix macaw chick and the chameleon were circling like a pair of cats, their volcanic eyes glaring daggers at each other and their minds warped with the desire to see one another covered in blood and cuts. Sugilite, Spica, Cytosine, Thymine and Sandalwood looked on in angst as the pair continued to circle one another. Sirius clearly resembled Jewel whenever she and her most detested nemesis Nigel met but before the confrontation could launch into a full-blown fight, Steven cried out some horrifying news.
"Betelgeuse has GONE!" he shouted. Spica, Sugilite, Cytosine, Thymine and Sandalwood rushed over to him, JD, Connie and Lars and peered through the mesh into the Compartment of Carnivores.
"We're gonna have to go in there and rescue her," said Sandalwood. The others apart from Sirius who was still locked in a vicious glare with Dalek and circling with him, shot the flying fox pup a "What!?" look.
"What are you crazy!?" snapped JD, "Don't you remember what happened last time?"
Sandalwood, however, simply made a beeline for the hole and squeezed through it.
"We're not gonna allow that Carnassial and his gang turn Betelgeuse into a snack," said the flying fox with determination, "Especially since Dalek had shoved her into the land deliberately to hand her to those cat-like figures."
Spica, Cytosine, Thymine and Sugilite exchanged glances and also squeezed through the hole. Steven and Connie did the same.
"Well, since she means that much to you," said Connie, "Then we're gonna help you. She is our friend after all."
"But I must warn you, we could get in trouble for doing this," said Steven. He then turned back to JD, "Hey, JD, are you helping?"
"Yes," said JD before going over to Sirius who was still locked in the vicious combative glare with Dalek.
"Hey, Sirius," he said, a nudge on the Spix macaw's shoulder with a wing flipper, "We're goin' to rescue your scarlet macaw friend."
At first Sirius did not hear JD, his desire to savagely fight Dalek warping his mind. JD then flashed the chameleon a threatening glare as he picked up Sirius, snapping him out of his rage.
"We'll deal wit' you slime-scales LATER," snarled the macaroni penguin in his squeaky voice and with that, he left with Sirius in his flippers and joined the others on the other side of the barrier. Then Sandalwood and the others entered further into the Compartment of the Carnivores land. Dalek, however, watched them leave and cackled evilly before picking up and donning his hat, changing his scale colour to match his surroundings and leaving before anyone caught him and seizing some nearby leaves to treat his scratched cheeks and forehead.