Chapter 84- Mauro and his marmoset gang help out
Somewhere else, not too far away from Connie's location
Connie continued flapping like mad through the moonlit treetops. She had left Tulio's Aviary behind everyone else's backs, including Sardonyx and Greg and had returned to the spot where Sandalwood had last been. However, when she saw that Sandalwood had gone missing, she ventured further into the trees to look for him. Her eyes were weeping tears like rain much like Sandalwood's eyes had been doing but it was not from hurt, but from extreme guilt. Connie knew it was all her fault for causing Sandalwood to flee into the forest and it continued to boil within her mind, especially the yelling she had received from Sandalwood's parents Stella and Soren and also his grandparents Augustus and Melissa and the angry glares from Anabelle, Sebastian and Luna and she was practically trembling with severe worries for Sandalwood and had hoped that he hadn't run into any danger, especially with the fire spreading.
As Connie continued flying as fast as she could through the treetops, she was stopped by immense horror when her terrified and guilt tear-saturated eyes spotted an orange glow in the distance, massive black puffs of clouds ascending from the glow and into the sky. Connie then flew upward to get a better view of the glow and when she saw some shaking orange shapes dance on the treetops and belching the clouds, Connie shuddered violently. Though she had never seen fire in person, she had got a glimpse of it on the screen of the thing humans called a TV before back at the Paradise Sanctuary place. Timidly and fearing the worst, the little grey-headed flying fox pup resumed her frantic search for Sandalwood and also Vega and Regulus who had pursued him, despite the fatigue setting in her flight muscles.
As Connie continued rocketing through the forest, back in their burrow prison, Acerola, Sirius, Einstein, Miles, Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine, Gladion and Lillie continued to push against the boulder sealing them in the burrow. They had been at it for a while now but to their despairing dismay, the boulder wouldn't budge. The ten kids then gave up as fatigue set in and stopped to rest against the burrow walls. Gladion grasped his casted wing.
"It's no use," said Sirius, stopping to puff and pant, "That rock's too heavy."
"We've GOT to get outa here somehow," said Acerola timidly.
"I think we should all screech and shout together for help," said Lillie. This was met with looks of "What!?" from the others.
"But how can anyone pick up our cries from behind this massive lump of rock?" snapped Gladion.
"Not to mention the clutter of forest out there," put in Adenine.
"No-one would hear us," added Cytosine. As he said this, Guanine, Thymine, Einstein and Miles uttered moans of despair.
"We'll NEVER get out," moaned Miles.
"We're stuck here forever," wailed Guanine.
" uiet, the lot of you," shouted Sirius, "I mean it!"
As he said this to the moaners to silence them, Acerola stood up and went over to Lillie.
"Can you repeat what you've just said, Lillie," she said.
"I think we should all screech and shout together for help," said Lillie. Then an idea popped into Acerola's head. However, the other kids responded with sceptical looks.
"But will it work?" asked Gladion. Acerola glared at him.
"Well, we have no other option," she said, "This rock's too heavy and won't budge regardless of how much we try to move it. If there's any chance of us getting out of this trap at all, I think we should go with Lillie's suggestion and rally together and scream and shout and yell as loud as we could. Hopefully some animal will pick up are distress calls and help let us out."
Gladion gazed at Lillie, Adenine, Sirius, Guanine, Cytosine, Thymine, Einstein and Miles as they put on determined and agreeing looks.
"We'll do it," said Sirius.
"After all, birds of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, white, black, pink, metallic and other coloured feathers," said Einstein.
"And flying foxes of brown, red, orange and white fur," put in Acerola.
"HAVE TO STICK TOGETHER," said all ten in unison. After this, the group took up their positions behind the boulder, a new hope boiling within them but the idea was their only chance of survival.
"Right, you guys ready," said Acerola to which the chicks nodded, "Then let's start screaming and screeching like we have NEVER screamed before."
However, before the group could begin, a new, but foul, smell, wafted into the sealed burrow, seeping through the slivers between the burrow entrance and the rock.
"Oh, what's… that… smell?" gagged Sirius.
"It doesn't smell good at all…" said Einstein.
"Look just focus on screeching for help," said Acerola and with that, the entire burrow air was flooded with the immense sounds of Spix and Catalina macaw and toco/keel-billed toucan screams and s uawks and the flying fox pup screeches from Acerola. All ten kids directed their screams through the gaps in their seal.
"HEEELLLP! HEEELLP US!"
"WE'RE TRAPPED IN HERE AND WE NEED HELP TO BE FREED!"
"IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE!?"
The ten kids then began to really go mad with their screeching and yelling, all of them giving it their all as if their lives depended on it, but that will eventually become true for the foul smell was drifting through the trees from an orange glow and that orange glow, along with its suffocating mist, was drifting and spreading in the direction of the burrow in which Acerola and the nine birds were trapped, engulfing and eating away any burnable thing in its path.
While Acerola and her group continued to shout, scream and yell at the top of their lungs from within their prison, Connie continued to fly through the forest and as she did so, her nose picked up the smell of burning. The grey-headed bat stopped and gagged, before looking up to see a semi-transparent mist drift through the trees, behind it the orange glow. The sound of wood crackling and being set alight accompanied the disturbing scene and Connie's eyes inflated out of their sockets in horror. However, putting aside the immense horror of seeing the fire and its smoke, Connie continued her risky flight into the mist. The mist then began to irritate her eyes and respiratory tract and she began coughing and spluttering while her eyes began to spew tears, and soon she was forced to fly closer to the forest floor where the air was clearer and not as polluted. As Connie descended to the floor and began to fly at a lower level, she heard the sounds of something over the distant burning sound of the fire as it continued to consume the forest. Hearing this, she stopped to listen. The sounds seemed to be distressed shouting but it sounded muffled and distant but Connie knew that the shouter was in distress based on the cries, and at first assumed them to be the cries of panicked animals as they continued to scurry from the fire but then hope burst through that assumption. She hoped that it was Sandalwood.
"Sandalwood?" she called, "SANDALWOOD!?"
And with that, she rocketed in the direction of the shouts, ignoring the pain in her eyes and the tears streaming from them caused by the irritation from the smoke.
"I'M COMING SANDALWOOD!" shouted Connie as she continued to fly as low as she could to the forest floor to keep out of the thickening mist. She also released some coughs and splutters as the polluting mist irritated her lungs.
Back in their burrow prison, Acerola and the others continued screaming and yelling, their throats becoming raw and parched but they continued to force more extremely loud shouts from their throats, especially as the smell and some of the polluting mist began to drift into the burrow through the narrow gaps. Acerola and several others began to cough and splutter as the burrow air began to fill with the mist of the smoke.
"Keep going, guys!" spluttered Acerola and with that, the chicks continued to scream as loud as they could. Then Lillie began to emit the most ear-piercing scream she had EVER mustered in her life for she seemed to have inherited her grandmother Eva's screechy voice. As loud as she could, she screamed and practically shook the air in the burrow. The scream was so ear-splitting that Gladion, Acerola and the others were forced to cover their ears, but they continued to scream and shout as well. Connie continued flying through the forest above the forest floor, tracing the sounds of the screams but as the screams melted into clear earshot, she realised that there wasn't just one screamer, but MANY. This prompted her to continue for she assumed that there could be other kids beside Sandalwood.
"Hang on, Sandalwood!" cried she and with that, she continued to trace the screams to their source. Back in the sealed burrow, Lillie stopped and took a break, her throat raw from all that screeching, allowing Acerola and the others to continue shouting and screaming, until at last, the sounds of someone outside reached their ears. This ignited hope within the group.
"Do you guys hear that?" asked Sirius when he heard the voice. Acerola, Einstein, Miles, Adenine, Cytosine, Thymine, Guanine, Gladion and Lillie stopped to listen and realised that Sirius was right.
"Continue to scream!" commanded Acerola, the mist of the smoke seeping into the burrow continuing to thicken and with that, all but Lillie who was too exhausted from screaming her Eva-like yell, continued to scream and shout as loud as they could. Finally, Gladion's sister resumed screaming with the others.
Connie continued tracing the screams to their sources until at last, the sounds were loud enough for her to hone in on the screamers, which turned out to be emanating from underground. She flew down to investigate after finding this out. Above her, the smoke was thickening and the fire's flickering and menacing fingers were creeping ever closer.
"Sandalwood?" shouted Connie. Acerola and the others stopped to listen to the shouter as her voice was louder, indicating that she was closer. Sirius immediately recognised the voice.
"Connie?" he said. The others excluding Einstein and Miles gazed at the oldest son of Bia and Virgil in surprise and realised that the shouter was indeed Connie. Acerola began to shout at Connie through the sliver gaps between the burrow entrance and the rock.
"Connie! We're in HERE!" she called, stopping to cough the polluting mist from her lungs for a minute. Connie continued to hone in on the underground screams until at last, she spotted a burrow entrance that was sealed off by a rock. However, the shouter hadn't been Sandalwood but one of his cousins, the one whom she had also met alongside Sandalwood and the other kids, all of them chicks, at the fraudulent Paradise Sanctuary place.
"Acerola?" she said as she flew over to the stone-sealed burrow and touched down before it, "Acerola?"
She peered through the gaps between the rock and the burrow entrance's lips and sure enough, she saw a flash of auburn fur and a sliver of her blue eyes. Behind the flash of auburn was a flash of vivid electric blue and orange-red, indicative of a Spix macaw and a Catalina macaw. When Connie realised this, horror tore through her.
"How did you guys end up in there!?" she demanded.
"Never mind about that," retorted Acerola as she and some of the chicks coughed as the mist continued to thicken.
"And if we stay in here any longer, the thickening smoke will eventually SUFFOCATE US!" cried Einstein, one of the chicks Connie didn't know very well.
"GET US OUTA HERE!" cried Gladion, Lillie and the others desperately. Connie immediately knew that she had to get Acerola and the others out of that burrow pronto for the fire was creeping ever closer, its polluting and suffocating smoke approaching at an alarming rate. Then she tried bracing herself against the boulder to push it aside to widen one of the slits for Acerola and the others inside. She emitted a long grunt as she forced herself against the boulder but to her dismay, the rock was FAR too heavy to budge. Inside, Acerola saw the grey-headed flying fox pup struggle to move the rock in a futile attempt to open at least a slit in the burrow's entrance.
"It's no use, Connie, that rock's too heavy," she said.
"Even with the combined efforts of all of us," said Adenine.
Connie gave one last push until her fatiguing body finally told her to stop, which she obeyed and gave up. Then she took a step back and gazed at the rock sealing Acerola and the others inside in horror but then she heard the sounds of animal calls echo through the forest. She shot a glance in the direction of the fire and saw moving shapes through the trees. Those shapes were some of the animals that lived in the jungle and they were in a desperate hurry to escape the spreading fire. An idea entered Connie's head.
"Hang in there, I'll get help!" cried she through the slivers to Acerola and the others and with that, she rushed off to shout for help.
"HEEELLLP!" she screamed into the forest at the moving animals as the fire continued to approach, "HEELLP! THERE ARE SOME ANIMALS TRAPPED IN A BURROW!"
As she continued to yell for help, Connie began to intercept some of the animals in hopes of stopping them to enlist their assistance in moving the boulder to Acerola and the others' burrow prison. She first tried to stop a ground quail with a line of chicks, indicative that the quail was a mother and thus a female, as they bumped into her.
"Please help," she pleaded to the large quail, "There is a young bat and some chicks trapped in a sealed burrow behind a boulder that is too heavy to move…"
However, the mother quail was too engrossed in getting her own chicks to safety and simply barged past Connie and fled into the forest, her chicks following her. Frustrated, Connie turned to another animal, a moustached tamarin but to her further frustration, the little monkey just darted by her and did not answer.
"There are some young animals trapped in a burrow…" called Connie but the tamarin was gone. More animals shot by her and ignored her protests, much to Connie's increasing frustration and waning hope for help as the situation got more and more dire. As another quail just rocketed past her and disappeared through the trees away from the fire and ignored her cries for help, Connie watched after it in despair.
"HELLOOOO!?" she cried at more passing panicking animals and continued to beg them to stop and help her free Acerola and the others, and the situation became more and more desperate as the fire crept ever closer and the smoke thickened and soon, the smoke will be so thick that it would be difficult, and eventually impossible, to breathe.
As Connie tried calling after more fleeing animals, she was unaware that a small group of certain marmosets were running towards her and that she was right in their path. Then before Connie knew it, she was bowled over by an ageing marmoset with greying brown fur, green eyes and with a couple of sparkly things on his head and around his waist, followed by some more marmosets with grey fur. Connie shrieked as she then tumbled with the monkeys down a small slope and came to rest at the bottom. As Connie shook her head to deal with the dizziness from the collision and tumble, the brown marmoset, which was wearing a silvery clip in a tuft of hair on its head and a thick ring with a face marked with numbers and two sticks pointing out from the centre, stood up and shot Connie a furious glare before seizing her and shaking her while the other marmosets rose to their feet with assistance from some more grey marmosets.
"What's the big idea of standin' in our way and sending us into a violent tumble in a life-threatening situation, you GROUND HOG!?" the brown marmoset bellowed. However, Connie did not flinch and only replied with, "I'm sorry but there is a group of bird chicks and a flying fox pup trapped in a burrow..."
The marmoset then dropped Connie and stood back, a suspicious frown on his face. Then one of his grey underlings came forward as soon as he had helped one of the dazed marmosets to his feet.
"Are we gonna leg it, Mauro?" he said, "The fire's coming our way."
"We need to get that young bat outa here too," said another. Then the brown marmoset named Mauro seized Connie by the wing and began to drag her along as he got moving again, the other grey marmosets, his underlings, running after him.
"You shouldn't be messin' around here, little bat," said Mauro as he continued to drag Connie along, "That fire's spreading fast and we NEED to get to safety…"
"B-b-b-but… I need your help!" protested Connie as she struggled to free her wing from Mauro's grasp, "There are some young birds and a bat trapped behind a rock in a burrow and they cannot the rock sealing them in there…"
However, at first, Mauro was too busy and focussed on getting himself and his group of marmosets to safety and continued dragging Connie along.
"We don't have time to talk, bat," said he, "We MUST get outa here."
Connie continued pleading with him until she finally snapped when she saw that her protests were falling on deaf ears. Hissing through her teeth, the grey-headed flying fox yanked her wing from Mauro's hand, pounced onto the marmoset and slammed him hard against a tree trunk, much to the shock of Mauro and his underlings.
"Now LISTEN HERE, MONKEY!" snarled Connie furiously right into Mauro's face, "Which is more important: your gang of little monkeys or other animals, especially kids; that are trapped in DIRE need of helping?"
Mauro tried to protest but Connie swept on.
"Would you like to face the wrath of Mr Blu and Mrs Jewel if you don't help those trapped chicks, especially if any of them are their grandkids?" continued the furious grey-headed flying fox. Mauro and his gang members all stiffened at the mentioning of the two Spix macaws they had been coerced to capture by a certain exotic bird-detesting cockatoo under the threat of falling to their deaths at his clutches years ago. Since that incident, Mauro and his marmoset gang and Blu and Jewel had developed a rather thorny relationship, especially Jewel who was still very hostile towards them for attempting to kidnap them for Nigel even though the two Spix macaws had eventually learned that the monkeys had been coerced by the cockatoo, and Mauro and his gang and many of their descendants had avoided causing them trouble or including them in their thieving and mischief-making antics, which fortunately was not as bad as the many, many toucans that had been ravaging the sanctuary.
As these thoughts churned in Mauro's mind, Connie continued glaring furiously into his face, the brown marmoset's more and more desperate underlings protesting to him that they should leave for the fire was getting closer. At first, Mauro was hesitant and reluctant until finally, he relented, especially at the thought of potentially facing the wrath of Blu and Jewel if he didn't help rescue those kids; among them some of Blu and Jewel's grandkids.
"Okay, we'll help you free those chicks," he said, much to the shock of his underlings.
"But Mauro," began one of them, a female but Mauro shot her a glare.
"Just go along with this young bat's request," snapped he, making the female marmoset member flinch, "You guys remember what happened when we confronted Blu and Jewel last time?"
The marmoset underlings did not reply. Rolling his eyes, Mauro turned to Connie and said, "Show us the burrow in which these young animals are trapped."
Connie nodded and left to lead the way, the group of marmosets following.
Back in the burrow, Acerola, Sirius, Einstein, Miles, Adenine, Cytosine, Thymine, Guanine, Gladion and Lillie continued to wait anxiously for Connie to return with help, especially as the burrow continued to fill with the polluting mist of smoke, causing them to weep tears and cough and splutter as the smoke irritated their eyes, noses and throats. Acerola was practically gasping for breath, her wings on her throat as she struggled to draw in clean air. Sirius tried to console her.
"Connie should be back anytime now," he said.
"I HOPE she is, Sirius," snapped Adenine, "This smoke is starting to suffocate us."
He then burst into a coughing episode and lay down on his belly to keep his beak out of the building smoke. Acerola and Sirius and the others did the same but as they did that, they heard a shout from the entrance.
"Acerola, Guys," called Connie's voice. The ten kids stood up and peered through the slit between the rock and the burrow entrance to see the sliver of grey from Connie's head on the outside.
"I've got help!" called Connie, Mauro and his gang of marmosets behind her, "But these helpers may require your assistance in shoving this hefty mini-boulder out of the way."
Acerola and the others nodded and prepared to move the boulder on its inner side without hesitation or question. Mauro, Connie and the other marmosets then prepared to brace themselves and each other in a line on the outer side of the boulder. Not too far away, the fire continued to approach the burrow, flooding the air with its polluting and suffocating clouds of black-brown smoke.
"Ready, boys and girls; PUUUUSH!" yelled Mauro and altogether, the group of marmosets and Connie began to push against the boulder with all their might. Inside, Acerola and the nine chicks did the same with Gladion only using the wing not in a cast and that side. With a massive snarl of effort, the animals continued to shove at the heavy boulder, mustering every ounce of strength they had. The boulder began to move to one side with the combined efforts of the two groups, and Acerola saw the gap between one side of it and the burrow entrance's lip get wider.
"Just a little more so that the gap is wide enough for us to escape through," she called. Mauro, his gang, Connie and Acerola's group nodded and gave one final and MIGHTY push on the boulder until at last, the gap reached a large enough size for Acerola and her group to exit the burrow. However, the pushing of the boulder had exhausted the last of Acerola and company's energy and they all collapsed from exhaustion. As soon as they had widened the gap enough, Mauro wiped his forehead and puffed and panted.
"That rock is certainly a HEAVY ONE," he growled in astonishment, his gaze on the stone, "I wonder how you lot had managed to move this thing over the burrow entrance."
Connie did not reply and poked her head through the gap and into the burrow.
"Okay, the gap's wide enough," she said. As she said this, Acerola's group struggled to their feet and began to make a break for it.
"Hurry," called one of Mauro's underlings, "The fire's getting closer!"
The fire was not far from Connie and the others' location now and flakes of blackened wood, their edges still lit with a line of red, had begun to rain down around the group like dark snowflakes. Quickly, Acerola's group began to squeeze through the gap and out of the burrow, one by one. Sirius went first, followed by Einstein, then Miles, and Adenine, Cytosine, Thymine, Guanine, Gladion, the male toucan chick being careful with his casted wing as he climbed through the gap, Lillie and last of all, Acerola. However, as she squeezed through the gap and made it to outside, the auburn flying fox pup collapsed, the polluting smoke taking its toll on her young body. Alarmed, Connie seized her and began to shake her awake.
"Acerola!" cried she, "ACEROLA!"
However, Acerola did not stir. Then Einstein came in and felt her pulse. It was still beating much to everyone else's relief.
"She's unconscious but still alive," he said, "We need to get her out of here as soon as possible."
"Allow us," said Mauro and with that, he commanded his underlings to pick up the chicks while he picked up the limp Acerola. Then as soon as the marmosets had had all ten kids including Gladion and Lillie after some reluctance for they were toucan chicks but at Sirius's persuasion that the two were not like the majority of the other toucan chicks, the marmosets prepared to carry Acerola's group.
"Alright, you take that lot to safety while I continue to search for anyone else," said Connie and with that, the grey-headed flying fox rushed toward a nearby tree trunk, scarpered up it and dropped into flight. Sirius watched her leave in horror.
"Connie, get back here, it's too DANGEROUS!" he called, "Connie? Connie? CONNIE!"
However, Connie was soon out of earshot and Mauro and his marmoset group and Acerola's group saw that the fire's dancing fingers were not too far away from them now, the heat emanating from the flames bathing them in an unbearable furnace-like atmosphere and the smoke flooding the air increasing to unbreathable levels. Mauro immediately knew it was time to scarper.
"Okay, boys and girls, let's run for it," he said.
"NOOOO!" cried Sirius as worries for Connie boiled within his mind. Einstein, Miles, Adenine, Cytosine, Thymine, Guanine, Gladion and Lillie also protested for Connie but the marmosets did not listen and began to carry them away from the fire.
"Hold on, little birds," commanded Mauro as his underlings carried them while he carried the unconscious Acerola and with that, the marmosets deftly carried the group through the dense vegetation of the forest floor. Sirius and the others then went along with Mauro's command and clung desperately to their carriers as they fled with the other distressed animals in the direction of safety.