Chapter 90- final showdown with Dalek part 1
Dalek moved his pad-hands from the knife-like shard of wood and backed away, glaring insanely and with utter psychotic disgust at Tom as the toucan's eyes and beak slowly travelled down to the stiff blade that was embedded in his belly. Then the chameleon's rancorous gaze travelled to Blu and Jewel, the former his intended target and the reptile began to tremble with rage as the realisation that his target had been moved aside by the substitute. As he watched on, Carla, Diantha, Zephyr, Aurora, Spinel, Augustus, Melissa, Soren and Rafael, together with Sylvester, Aldebaran, Vega, Regulus, Polaris, Katniss and Ferdinand, who all either hovered in the air or were riding in the talons of some of them, and Blu, Jewel, Bia and Stella on the ground, gazed at the wounded Tom in utter and extreme horror, especially as his wings moved down the shard of wood and pulled it from his stomach. Then Diantha handed to Zephyr and then dived down at Tom, extreme anguish and fear consuming her like the fire was doing the trees. Rafael, after handing Aldebaran to Aurora, followed but not before he commanded the other to leave and take the kids to safety. However, Zephyr and the others were reluctant for they did not want to leave Tom.
Then as Tom toppled backwards, dropping the bloodstained piece of wood in the process, and was caught by Blu, Jewel, Diantha and Rafael while Bia and Stella began to hastily look for some moss to treat the bloody wound on Tom's abdomen where the wood shard had struck, Diantha clasped Tom's cheeks with her wings and turned his agonised gaze in her direction.
"Tom, look at me," she begged desperately. In the air, Zephyr and the others looked on, the kids and a still-wet Soren and Augustus on their backs and in their talons, distressed looks in their gazes as they feared for Tom.
"The MOSS!" demanded Rafael to Stella and Bia as the two rushed in with the lumps of soft green stuff. Rafael and Blu seized the moss from the albino flying fox and Spix macaw and applied it straight to Tom's bloody stomach while Diantha gazed at Tom and kept his gaze on hers with her wings on his cheeks to steady it. Bia and Stella also joined in with the attempts to slow the loss of Tom's blood.
"Is he gonna die," whispered Aldebaran in Aurora's talons.
"I don't know, my little sweet," said Aurora in an edgy voice as she watched the scene. Then Aldebaran and the other six kids began to weep, large tears falling from their eyes. Then Augustus on Zephyr's back called, "Can't we rush him to the aviary?"
However, Blu, Rafael, Diantha, Stella, Bia and Jewel did not answer and continued to tend to Tom's severe wound. Then the group tossed aside the bloodstained moss and Stella and Bia handed some fresh moss to the others as they then rotated Tom until his feet were in the air so that the wound was above his heart level. However, even that didn't stop the rapid flow of blood from Tom's injury. Then Tom gazed wearily at Diantha and Rafael as the two toucans began to shed tears.
"It's no good," said Bia as she threw away another lump of blood-soaked moss, "His wound's too severe."
Tom's eyes then began to shed tears and he began to tremble weakly. A short distance away, Dalek continued to watch on nonchalantly.
"Look, i-i-i-it's okay," whispered Diantha in a fragile voice, trying to assure Tom and stroking his forehead, "Y-y-you'll be okay, I-I-I-I know you will…"
Tom gazed at his half toco, half keel-billed mate and formed a weak smile as Bia, Jewel, Blu and Stella continued to try and stem his blood loss. Tom's chest was expanding at a faster rate as his breathing became more and more laboured.
"Pl-pl-please get those kids outa here," whispered he, "A-a-and rescue the others i-i-if they hadn't b-b-b-been rescued already…" he then entered an episode of rapid, laboured breathing, "a-a-and that includes our p-p-p-p-precious three chicks… L-L-Lillie and G-Gladion who are like siblings to Mr Blu and company's offspring…" Diantha, tears falling from her eyes, nodded. Tom's weakening gaze then formed a frown.
"A-a-and get th-th-those ungrateful, u-u-u-uncaring, bunch of n-n-numskulls such as Marco, Sofia and the rest and e-e-evict them fr-from the s-s-sanctuary…" he continued, "I-I-I should assume th-th-that our human friends sh-sh-should have c-c-c-caught most of th-th-those marauding toucans and their kids by now…"
Diantha and Rafael nodded. Then Blu, Jewel, Stella and Bia gazed at the two toucans, tears welling in their eyes and falling down their cheeks.
"I'm sorry," said Blu hopelessly.
"I'm afraid that wood blade has severely damaged him beyond treatment," whispered Bia, "The rate of blood loss is too rapid."
Diantha and Rafael's eyes began to ooze even larger tears, and Tom knew that Blu and company's attempts to stem his blood loss were hopeless. Then Tom felt his strength begin to ebb away, like water emptying from a leaky coconut shell.
"Also," he whispered weakly, "G-g-get Sandalwood to fly again… I-I-I-I would love h-h-him to play with my two br-br-brilliant daughter and s-s-s-son, and the other chicks a-a-and the flying fox pups again… in the air…"
Rafael, Bia, Diantha, Blu, Jewel and Stella nodded to this as well. In the air, Zephyr and company continued to watch, tears falling like rain from their eyes.
"Can any of you sing?" asked Tom in a weakening voice. Diantha, Rafael, Stella, Blu, Jewel and Bia exchanged tearful glances. Then Diantha took up the request. Shakily taking up her weakening mate's wings in her own and gazing into his loving brown eyes, Diantha closed her eyes and launched into a soft song and began to sing one of her and Tom's favourite romantic songs. It was a song that Tom and Diantha, along with some other couples such as Carla and Justin, sometimes listened to, to commemorate their travels together with their chicks (in Diantha and Tom's case, Lillie and Gladion) such as to and from Rio from the Sanctuary de Amazon, and their visiting of the places between those two locations on those trips.
"Never was a leader… never had a thing for fairytales…" began Diantha as she began to sing, her eyes weeping a larger flood of tears, the others listening. In the air, Zephyr and company also listened; tears falling from their eyes while Dalek, a short distance away, flinched with disgust. It seemed that he detested sweet moments, but his glare was specifically on the macaws, most especially Blu, Bia and Jewel on the ground. A rancorous hiss filtering through his mouth, the chameleon left to get something.
Tom continued gazing into the starry sky that continued to be polluted by a mist of smoke from the fire as it consumed the trees bordering the clearing. In his vision, the outline of Diantha with her beautifully vivid orange, black, lime green and magenta beak, the result of Rafael and Eva's genes being expressed together in her massive bill and making it look like a colourful piece of fruit, along with Rafael's outline and orange beak, Stella's white outline and the blue outlines of Blu, Bia and Jewel as they gazed into his eyes, began to smear into a blurry mess. In the background was a colourful cloud, the forms of Zephyr and company as they watched their toucan friend's life ebb away to the song 'Capital Letters' sung by Diantha. Then suddenly, a white mist seeped into the black sky and the shapes of Rafael, Diantha, Blu, Jewel, Stella and Bia's heads smeared into a formless mess, before becoming clear again. However, Tom noticed that his peripheral vision had begun to darken, the forms of Rafael, Diantha, Blu, Jewel, Stella and Bia's heads, along with the stars in the sky and the orange glow from the fire in the background, melting away and in the centre of the blackness, a small bright white light appeared, like a large star against a black void canvas. Then that light began to expand in size as though Tom was irresistibly drawn to it. The light grew… and grew… and grew until it finally enveloped Tom's vision and completely engulfed the blackness…
"For worst or for better… gonna give it to you… in capital letters…" sung Diantha in a sombre voice. At that moment, Tom's chest fell and he became very still, his eyes gazing blankly into the sky. As soon as he saw this, Blu placed a talon onto Tom's neck, the others looking on as his brown eyes began to flood with tears.
"That's it?" asked Diantha tearfully. Blu gazed at her, Rafael, Jewel, Stella and Bia, great tears falling from his eyes. Zephyr and the others in the air looked on, the realisation having dawned upon them.
"I-I-I'm sorry," he whispered in a low voice. The moment Diantha and company's brains registered this; tears began to fall from their eyes, especially from Rafael and Diantha's ones. Then Diantha felt something crack hard within her. Burying her face into her now-lifeless mate's chest feathers, sobs of anguish and heartbreak began to erupt from her beak, with Rafael, Jewel and Bia putting a comforting wing on her shoulder, tears also falling from their eyes. In the air, Zephyr and the others looked away, tears also falling from their eyes like rain, and Stella gently closed Tom's eyelids.
"He was like the son I had never had…" whispered Rafael as he continued to comfort a seriously sobbing Diantha, before he too broke down. Blu, Bia and Jewel then shared a very tearful hug and some of the others in Zephyr's group had also descended to offer the six, especially Rafael and Diantha, their condolences. Carla, with gazed at the tearful Diantha as she continued to sob uncontrollably.
"I-I-I'm… so sorry…" said she slowly. Diantha only replied with hard sobbing and was pulled into a hug by Carla. The others then bowed their heads, tears also falling from their eyes, over the loss of their friend/uncle/son, even though Tom was not a macaw or related to Polaris and the other chicks, as Rafael, Blu and Jewel gently laid Tom's lifeless body down onto its back. However, the moment their wings departed from the toucan's body, the moment of mourning was immediately shattered by an extremely loud hiss that pierced the air like a scream. Alarmed by this noise, everyone jolted their heads up and shot horrified looks in the direction of the hiss's source and the moment their eyes landed on it, Ferdinand and the six chicks all emitted piercing screams of extreme fright. Then the talons and wings of Carla, Zephyr, Aurora, Spinel, Diantha (despite her shattered heart over Tom's death) and Rafael appeared, hooked onto the six chicks and pup, and pulled them away as a small fireball on a stick flew from the hissing creature and landed in the exact spot where some of them had been a second before. Augustus and Soren then climbed back onto Zephyr and Rafael's backs as they and the others carrying the chicks and Ferdinand launched into flight as another small fireball on a stick appeared and flew at them, only to miss and land on the ground. Blu, Jewel, Bia and Stella hastily launched into flight as a third fireball on a stick flew in and struck a rock on which Stella had climbed and jumped into flight. One of the fingers of the fireball caught Blu's tail and its feathers started smoking, much to his immense horror, while Bia identified the thrower of the fireballs on sticks.
"It's the CHAMELEON!" cried she, "And it's got SANDALWOOD, BELLATRIX AND CONNIE!"
Indeed it was. Dalek, who held the still gagged and bound Sandalwood, Connie and Bellatrix in his tail, was launching the fireballs on the sticks at Blu's group. His rational thinking had been utterly consumed by the fires of pure insanity now and he was armed with a box of matches he had picked up during Diantha and company's mourning of Tom as he was dying in their wings. He struck another match's red head against the rough strip on one side of the box, setting a flame on its tip and then subsequently flung it at Blu and company.
Blu continued trying to put out the small flame on his tail when Stella came in with some water-soaked moss she had seized, dipped in the nearby stream, and returned, and then as soon as she was near Blu's smoking tail, the albino flying fox clamped the wet moss on the tip and put out the fire, much to Blu's relief and gratefulness. Then Blu barked at Zephyr and the others to flee, especially as the wall of trees had begun to go up in flames almost entirely. Commanding the kids in their talons to hang on, Zephyr and the others launched into flight for the unlit area of trees in the clearing's wall, while more flaming matches on sticks flew from Dalek at them, only to miss and crash onto the floor. Dalek, with his three hostages in his tail, continued chasing Zephyr's group, lighting one match after another and throwing them at them, especially the parrots in the hopes of setting them on fire and burning them to death. As he continued to throw the flaming matches at Zephyr and company, the kids screaming in terror, especially at the bound Sandalwood, Connie and Bellatrix in Dalek's tail, tree blue comets and one white one appeared and pounced on him. Blu went for the matches while Jewel, Bia and Stella viciously went for Dalek himself to snatch Sandalwood, Connie and Bellatrix from his tail.
"GIVE US THOSE THREE KIDS, you SCALY WORM!" snarled Stella and with that, she lashed her foot claws at Dalek's face and inflicted three scratches on his cheek while Jewel jumped onto Dalek's back and began to tear her claws through his flesh. However, Dalek, his wrath consuming him explosively, retaliated by lashing his harpoon like tongue at Stella to knock her back, bolted Jewel into the air and slapped Blu and Bia hard across the faces to knock them away, all the while holding his three terrified hostages tightly in his tail. Then Dalek lit another match, put it into his tongue and launched it at Zephyr and company.
"Look OUT!" cried Zephyr when he saw the fiery comet on the pink harpoon fly at them. The group, with the kids including Polaris for she was too small to fly very fast, in their talons, scattered, making the fiery stick in Dalek's tongue miss them. Spinel who had Ferdinand in her talons, however, narrowly avoided getting her wing flight feathers set aflame by the comet in the tongue as it flew inches from the feather tips of her left wing. After missing its target, the fiery stick in Dlaek's tongue plummeted towards earth but then Dalek withdrew it, much to Spinel's horror. Shaken, she joined the others but in her shock, she accidentally dropped Ferdinand who had been in her talons. Ferdinand screamed but then a reddish and black winged blur came in and plucked him out of the air; Melissa had caught him while Spinel was tended to by Carla and Bia. Then the group was forced to flee with the seven kids in tow as the fire had nearly consumed the entre tree wall of the clearing.
"Go, go, GO!" barked Blu, "We'll rescue Sandalwood, Connie and Bellatrix."
With that, Zephyr commanded the others to follow him and as fast as they could, the group rocketed off but Carla was reluctant, especially as she saw Blu, Jewel, Bia and Stella launch themselves at Dalek and viciously attack him, Blu having managed to yank the box of matches from the chameleon's grasp and throw it aside but only for Dalek to retaliate and rush off into the burning trees with Bellatrix, Sandalwood and Connie, still tied up, in his tail.
"NOOOO!" cried Carla and was about to follow the four but Melissa appeared and ushered her after Zephyr's group.
"Come on," she said, "It's too dangerous."
Carla, at first, hesitated but then she went along with Melissa's orders and flew off after the others in Zephyr's group.
In the inferno, Dalek darted to a tree that had not yet caught fire and began to scurry up it with Sandalwood, Connie and Bellatrix held tightly in his tail. Behind him, three enraged Spix macaws and one flying fox swooped after him like hawks. Jewel, despite her phobia of fire, then tried to launch her first attack. She hurled herself at Dalek and brandished her barb-like claws and aimed for the chameleon's throat but the chameleon continued up the tree trunk, sending Jewel's talons slamming into the tree bark instead. With an enraged screech, Jewel resumed her pursuit of the chameleon. Then Stella swooped in.
"Give us back my son, that grey-headed pup and MATILDA AND TIAGO'S DAUGHTER!" screeched she and with that, she tried jumping onto Dalek's back only to miss as Dalek hopped to one side, sending Stella slamming into the bark. Sandalwood emitted a muffled, "Mother!" as Dalek carried him, Bellatrix and Connie away again. Then Blu and Bia tried to tackle the chameleon but they missed also. Bia launched a bite attack at Dalek's tail to try and get him to drop Bellatrix, Sandalwood and Connie but Dalek dodged that attack as well. However, Bias's beak had clipped the vines binding Bellatrix's feet together and had created a snip in the tendrils. When she saw that Dalek had dodged her attempt at seizing the three kids in his tail, Bia flew away and tried another attack. As Dalek continued dodging one attack after another from Bia, Jewel, Blu and Stella, Jewel's claws missing Dalek's eyes by inches only for him to knock her away with a tongue attack, Bellatrix's foot vines became loose and they fell away, and Bellatrix soon realised that she was able to move her feet. When Dalek stopped to attack Blu and fling him away with another tongue attack, Bellatrix quickly reached up with her feet, hooked the vines binding her beak shut and yanked it away before doing the same with Sandalwood but the trio found themselves moving again. Bia, Blu, Jewel and Stella continued their relentless attacks on Dalek until finally, Dalek was on the first branch he had managed to find. After this, he tore into the clutter of vegetation by running along the branch, being careful not to run into the fire which was dangerously close. Blu, Jewel, Stella and Bia gave chase, also keeping away from the fire but as Dalek entered a narrow clutter of branches and twigs too big for a macaw or a flying fox to get through, the four were forced to break off the chase. Jewel, Bia and Stella let loose enraged screeches when they saw Dalek retreat into the dense clutter of twigs and leaves but Blu prompted them to not give up.
"We'll attack from the above," he said and with that, he began to lead the three girls skyward and into the treetops. In his hiding place, Dalek peered out and saw no one, much to his devilish relief. He then turned his fiendish glare at Sandalwood, Connie and Bellatrix as he set them down on the spot where the branch joined the tree trunk, a fiendish grimace spanning his entire face with saliva dripping from it. However, his devilish glee flashed to horror when he noticed that the vines binding Bellatrix and Sandalwood's mouths, and Bellatrix's feet, were missing. Then Bellatrix, a look of thunder plastering her face at what Dalek had almost done to Polaris and the others, and also to Tom with the knife-like wood shard and very nearly Spinel and Ferdinand with that lit match, suddenly lurched at Dalek's face and slashed him across the forehead. Dalek let loose a pained hiss as a wound was opened on his forehead. As the padded hands of the chameleon went to his forehead where Bellatrix had struck, Bellatrix whirled round and untied Sandalwood and Connie as fast as she could. Then as soon as Dalek, his padded hands coming away from the new wound on his forehead, turned to shoot Bellatrix an extremely rancorous, wrathful look, Bellatrix shot him a scornful glare.
"Didn't see THAT coming did you, iguana face?" she crooned. Dalek threw on a look of immense surprise at Bellatrix's rapid movements in untying Sandalwood and Connie and both of those bat pups were glaring bitterly at him as well. Behind Dalek, the fire continued to consume the trees and was heading this way. Dalek then began to feel his anger at being outsmarted; especially by an individual of a bird kind he despised the most, boil within him. He began to tremble and his eyes became engulfed with the fames of wrath and rancour as they pierced Bellatrix. Connie timidly huddled against Sandalwood as she watched the chameleon continue to tremble with rage, Bellatrix also becoming wary of his boiling temper. Then with an extremely loud hiss as the pressure of his temper finally reached boiling point, Dalek crouched and lunged at the trio like a pouncing cat.
"Look OUT!" cried Bellatrix and with that, the Spix macaw chick and two bat pups dove to either side with Bellatrix diving to the left and Connie and Sandalwood to the right, sending Dalek's face slamming against the tree bark. Dalek then shot enraged glares this way and that until his turret-like eyes landed on a flash of blue on an adjacent branch. Bellatrix let loose a shriek of horror when she saw the chameleon, a rancorous hiss escaping his beak, and then spring himself off the branch and towards her.
"BELLATRIX!" called Sandalwood as he and Connie watched from another nearby branch, the one they had leaped onto. Bellatrix launched into the air as Dalek's padded hands and feet landed onto the spot where she stood, before flapping into flight. Not wanting to be outsmarted by an individual of his most detested type of bird again; Dalek opened his mouth and sent his tongue flying straight at Bellatrix. Bellatrix screamed as the pink, sticky-ended harpoon flew straight towards her. Above the trio's location in the treetops, Jewel, Blu, Stella and Bia heard Bellatrix's screeching. They stopped and began to listen and trace the scream to Bellatrix's location. Back in the canopy, Bellatrix had been caught on the sticky end of Dalek's tongue and as soon as he had caught her like a bug, Dalek swung his head to the left and swung Bellatrix towards another branch, where she slammed hard against the arm. Sandalwood and Connie looked on in utter horror as Dalek then swung his head to the right and sent Bellatrix attached to the end of his tongue flying to another tree and slam into its trunk.
"We must do SOMETHING, SANDALWOOD!" cried the grey-headed flying fox pup as she saw Dalek then swing Bellatrix hard into the branch again with his tongue, "Or he's gonna kill BELLATRIX!"
Sandalwood, in response to this, dashed towards the branch's parent tree's trunk, scarpered up it and without hesitation; he launched himself at Dalek, a screech of wrath exploding from his mouth. Dalek was about to turn round to face the screecher but before he could do that, Sandalwood was right on his back. As soon as he was on the chameleon's back, Sandalwood began to savagely sink his teeth as hard as he could into the chameleon's neck and back.
"You release Bellatrix this MINUTE, you SCALY RAT!" bellowed the flying fox pup and with that, he plunged the dagger-like canines of his upper jaw right into Dalek's back, sending excruciating pain erupting through the chameleon, making him hiss in agony and release Bellatrix from the tip of his tongue, sending her flying through the canopy. Bellatrix screamed and flailed and then managed to pull herself out of the chaotic trajectory by flapping and stopping herself. As soon as she had done this, a cerulean blur appeared and plucked her out of the air. At first, Bellatrix let loose a scream and plunged her beak into whatever had grabbed her, which was a talon toe.
"Ow, Bellatrix, it's only ME!" cried a familiar voice, prompting Bellatrix to release the toe and gaze at it and the feathers above the talon. When she saw that it were only Bia, she breathed a sigh of relief. Bia then carried Bellatrix up and out of the treetops and towards Blu, Jewel and Stella.
"I've got one of them," she said, "I'm gonna go back for Sandalwood and Connie."
And with that, she handed Bellatrix to Jewel and returned to the spot where she had caught her niece.
"Don't be too long down there," called Blu, "The fire's getting dangerously close."
Jewel, Bellatrix and Stella shuddered as they watched the sea of flames approach them at an alarming rate.
Back below the treetops, Sandalwood continued to savagely bite and plunge his teeth into Dalek's back, making the chameleon hiss and writhe in pain. Sandalwood had never felt so furious before and had never been so violent. As he continued to bite Dalek and inflict more and more painful puncture wounds on the chameleon, Sandalwood shouted, "THIS IS FOR NEARLY DROWNING MY FRIENDS, YOU SAVAGE SCALE-RAT, AND ALSO KILLING TOM and NEARLY SETTING SPINEL and my COUSIN FERDINAND ABLAZE!" and with all his might, he clamped his jaws onto Dalek's tail when it came to grab him. From the adjacent branch, Connie continued to watch on in horror as Sandalwood continued biting Dalek over and over again. Suddenly, a padded hand appeared, seized Sandalwood and before the amber flying fox knew it, he was slammed on his back against the branch and he was soon on the receiving end of an extreme apoplectic chameleon glare. Dalek then gazed down at Sandalwood and pressed him HARD against the branch, drawing the breath out of the little flying fox pup's lungs. Connie saw that Sandalwood was now in danger. With the urge to save her friend from getting killed by Dalek and fury tearing through her, the grey-headed pup dropped into the air from her branch, flew over to Dalek's back and landed on it.
"Let him GO, you SLIMY LONG-TONGUED RODENT!" she bellowed and with that, she began to try and do what Sandalwood did: biting him but before she could make her first mark, Dalek, a vicious hiss exploding from his mouth, whirled his head round, seized Connie with his sticky harpoon-like tongue and with all her might, flung Connie towards another tree. Sandalwood, under Dalek's pad-like hands watched in immense horror as Connie screamed as she was thrown against the tree trunk. Then with a loud SLAM and with Dalek's releasing of Connie from his tongue, Connie slumped down onto the tree branch but then she felt an excruciatingly agonising pain rip through her left wing. The grey-headed bat pup gazed at her wing and saw that it was kinked.
"My WIIIIING!" she screamed in extreme pain and with that, her other membranous wing rushed to clasp her injured one. Dalek, upon hearing this, rolled his eyes as if to say, 'Ooops' but then he burst into a sadistic hissy laugh. Above the treetops, Blu (who had Bellatrix in his talons), Jewel, Bia and Stella continued to search for Connie and Sandalwood.
"I can't see them ANYWHERE!" cried Jewel hysterically especially as the fire continued to approach them.
"Keep looking," said Blu. Jewel nodded and continued the search.
Sandalwood gazed in horror as Connie as she twisted her face in agony, her eyes weeping tears and her right wing clasped her injured left, before directing his gaze at Dalek as he continued laughing at Connie in the most sadistic way. That did it. The bubble of extreme rage within Sandalwood volcanically exploded. Seeing the pink tongue in Dalek's mouth as he continued emitting hissy laughs at the injured Connie and the flames of wrath at what he had done to the bat flaring within him, Sandalwood struggled under Dalek's padded hands, freed his wings, reached up and without hesitation, seized Dalek's own tongue, catching Dalek off guard. Then with a powerful bite to the reptile's padded hands, Sandalwood forced Dalek into releasing him. Then, as soon as he was free and with his wings still grasping the chameleon's tongue, the little amber flying fox pup, his eyes blazing green firestorms, darted around Dalek and began to entangle the chameleon in his own tongue, much to the chameleon's horror and astonishment. Dalek then tried to writhe his limbs became bound together by his own tongue. Connie looked on in surprise as Sandalwood then stopped by Dalek's astonishment-laced face and shot the chameleon a scornful look.
"Now let's see how YOU like being tied up in your own tongue, snake-face!" hissed the flying fox pup in an extremely acidic voice and before Dalek could act, the flying fox pup then stuck the sticky end of Dalek's tongue onto his face and shoved him off the branch, sending a horrified and struggling Dalek, his limbs tied together in his own tongue, careening through the canopy, the cruel fingers of the twigs and leaves slashing and clawing at him on the way down. Jewel, Bellatrix, Bia, Blu and Stella continued desperately looking for Sandalwood and Connie, aware that the fire was getting dangerously close and the instinctive urge to fly for it boiling within them. Then a few seconds later, Dalek slammed hard against another tree branch below, landing on his side where he lay there, out cold. Back on the branch above him, Sandalwood glared down the side of the branch in the direction in which Dalek had fallen.
"I think he's well and TRULY tongue-tied in his own tongue of spite now, eh, Connie," he crooned triumphantly. Connie managed a small smile but then the sound of roaring alerted the two flying foxes, pulling their attention to the source of the sound. To their horror, they saw that the end of the branch had caught fire and the orange flames were along the wooden arm right towards them at an alarming rate. Above, Blu, Jewel, Stella, Bellatrix and Bia were eventually forced to put off the search for the two missing flying fox pups, the fire now too dangerously close to them.
"Let's go," said Blu with a tug on a tearful Stella's wing. Stella flashed the Spix macaw an anguished look and refused to obey. She screamed and cried for Sandalwood and Connie down into the igniting trees as Blu began to haul her away in his talons.
Back below the treetops, Connie gazed worriedly and fearfully at Sandalwood as the fire neared them, the polluting smoke belched by the monster of fiery fingers causing the two flying foxes to cough and splutter.
"I don't think we're gonna get out of this mess now, Sandy," she said in despair, her gaze on her injured wing. Sandalwood was about to reply when suddenly, a small flake of charred and burning wood cinder flitted in and landed right onto the skin of Connie's other wing, the uninjured one, causing the grey-headed flying fox pup to yelp and jump in pain as the cinder burned her wing's skin, to Sandalwood's horror. Then Connie staggered towards the side of the branch and the next thing that happened sent even greater horror tearing through the amber flying fox pup. Connie continued to struggle to flap the cinder off her wing when suddenly, her footing reached for a steep gradient of the branch, causing her to fall from the wooden arm.
"SANDALWOOD!" she screamed desperately as she caught hold of a small twig sticking out from the branch side with the thumb of her unbroken and slightly burned wing, while her damaged and kinked left wing hung limply by her side. Sandalwood, horror consuming him, rushed over to the helpless Connie as she hung on for dear life.
"CONNIE!" cried the amber flying fox pup and reached out his wings to grab Connie's right wing but before his wings could clasp onto hers, the twig on which Connie was dangling from snapped and Connie was sent plummeting towards the forest floor, a scream exploding from her mouth and her right wing flapping in a vain attempt to pull her out of the fall. Sandalwood gazed down the drop as Connie receded further away and knew he had to do something. However, when he saw the drop from the side of the branch, he froze to the spot, a terrified look on his face; his fear of heights surfacing violently and gripping him hard once again. But then the urge to drop into the air after Connie took hold, especially as her screams of distress triggered something inside of him. As this happened and trembling violently, Sandalwood closed his eyes, leaned forward and allowed gravity to take him off the branch.
As he entered space, a flashback played in his mind, the flashback of the incident and ordeal Isabella and her comrades had put him through when they knocked him off the end of that branch with his wings and feet tied together. Sandalwood felt his wings tied to his sides and saw the water approach him at an alarming rate in his mind as the rush of air ruffled his fur as he hurtled though space. But then Sandalwood was pulled back into reality as he opened his eyes and found himself falling through space towards Connie, the fire burning the trees nearby. Screaming in fear, the amber flying fox pup flapped his wings madly, turned his body vertically to accelerate his freefall and as soon as he had caught up with Connie, he seized her and wrapped his wings around her, refusing to let go.
"Sandalwood, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" screamed Connie in astonishment, "YOU KNOW FULL WELL YOU'RE AFRAID OF HEIGHTS AND FLYING!"
"I'm NOT GONNA LET YOU DIE," retorted Sandalwood, "AFRAID TO FLY OR NOT, I will NOT LET YOU GO! I WISH WE WERE TIED TOGETHER SO THAT WE COULD BOTH DIE TOGETHER IF WE HAVE TO!"
Connie, at this statement, felt extreme awe and emotion overtake her and without hesitation or thinking, she pressed her muzzle against Sandalwood's mouth and locked him in a kiss, much to the amber flying fox's surprise. The kiss continued for a few seconds as the flying foxes continued plummeting towards the flaming forest floor but then as Connie broke the kiss, something amazing happened. Sandalwood felt a strange feeling bloom within him, a feeling that had been buried and suppressed by his fear of heights and flying for quite some time now. First, he suddenly felt his fear of heights and flying receding and then releasing Connie and seizing her in his foot claws, the wing-fingers in Sandalwood's wings then slowly spread out, opening the net of membranes and as they continued to extend, Sandalwood's eyes suddenly burst open. Connie saw the forest floor approaching the pair of flying foxes and shut her eyes and expected to feel a painful slam into the floor. However, it didn't happen and Connie felt the rush of air through her fur move from vertical to horizontal. Realising the change of direction in the airflow, she opened her eyes and observed her surroundings. To her amazement and surprise, she saw that the surroundings were moving horizontally, the forest floor sweeping below her. Then she was pulled up from the forest floor as Sandalwood, who carried her, flapped his wings to gain height.
"Wow!" cried Sandalwood in amazement, "Am I really…"
"Yes, Sandalwood, you're FLYING!" cried Connie in utter joy. Sandalwood was indeed flying. His membranous wings swept out from his amber body like a cloak and he was flapping with Connie in his feet. A blaze of pure ecstasy and jubilation flashed within Sandalwood as he experienced the joy of flying without fear in ages since his incident with Isabella and company had led to his fear of heights and flying that had buried that desire to fly for so long.
"I CAN'T BELIEEEVE IT!" cried the flying fox pup in utter joy as he flapped his wings, "I'm FLYING! I REALLY AM FLYING!"
As Sandalwood relished the joy of flying for the first time in days, and without fear or freaking out and dropping out of the air as well, Dalek recovered from his fall and slowly looked up, his tongue still tied around his legs. When his eyes landed on the flash of amber with black wings through the trees with a grey and black form below him, the chameleon's daze flashed to pure volcanic rancour, and the determination to chase Sandalwood and Connie soon took over. Springing to his feet, Dalek untangled himself of his tongue and darted off after the two flying fox pups, an extremely loud cat-like hiss exploding from his mouth.
Sandalwood continued flying with Connie in his feet and began to ascend up the canopy towards the treetops, especially as the wall of fire approached them. Sandalwood swung from side to side to avoid the flakes of burnt wood and fire from landing on his wings and continued to ascend. Above the treetops, Jewel was now in hysterics, the closeness of the fire finally triggering her pyrophobia while Bia, Bellatrix, Blu and a hysterical and tearful Stella continued scanning the unlit trees for Sandalwood and Connie. Then suddenly, Bellatrix saw a flash of movement amongst some trees.
"Aunt Bia, Grandpa, Grandma, Mrs Stella, LOOK!" she crowed and pointed a talon to it. The four adults followed the chick's point and to their astonishment, they saw an amber form with black wings emerge from the treetops near the fire and begin to approach them. All five especially Stella, felt jubilation and relief flash within them as they watched Sandalwood emerge from the sea of trees with Connie in his feet.
"SANDALWOOD!" cried the albino bat and with that, her grey-white wings sprung into action and propelled her towards her son. Blu, Jewel, Bia and Bellatrix followed.
"Sandalwood's flying," said Blu as he examined Sandalwood fly on his own, and without fear, for the first time in days, "He's REALLY FLYING!"
Sandalwood continued flapping his wings and carrying Connie towards his mother and the macaws as they also approached him. However, before the amber flying fox pup and his injured grey and reddish cargo could reach Stella who was at the front, a pink harpoon suddenly darted from the treetops and struck Sandalwood hard in the side, much to the horror of Stella, Blu, Jewel, Bia and Bellatrix.
"SANDALWOOOOD!" cried the five as Sandalwood, stunned by the thwack of the pink whip, was jolted out of the air and began to plummet towards the treetops, losing his grip on the injured Connie in the process. Connie began to plummet again but a cerulean blur flew in and caught her in her talons, Bia having swooped down and seized her but Sandalwood, his wings grasping his side where the tongue had struck, his face twisted in agony from the pain, continued to plummet towards the trees with Stella and Blu diving down at after him.
"SANDALWOOOD!" cried Bellatrix and Connie together. Then suddenly, a massive hiss exploded from the treetops, the exact spot where the tongue harpoon had been fired, the moment Blu managed to pluck Sandalwood out of the air. Stella and Blu, along with Jewel, Bellatrix, Connie and Bia, turned in the direction of the volcanic hiss and landed on a scab-marked green form perched on the highest branch of the tree, his turret-like eyes focussed on them with an extremely corrosive concoction of rage, rancour, vengeance and insanity boiling within them. When the little group saw Dalek continue to hiss rancorously at them, Connie, despite the pain in her broken left wing, rolled her eyes in irritation.