Chapter 40- something not quite right part 2, more violence from Dalek
Sometime later, Polaris, Spica, Achernar, Thymine and Guanine were having their own flight away from their place of stay but in the opposite direction of Adenine, Cytosine and company. Spica flew ahead while her second cousins minus Diego and Adenine and Cytosine's sisters talked with each other behind her. As she flew along, Spica's amber eyes picked up the activities of some humans in white outfits. Seeing this, the azure Jewel-like chick turned her gaze and began to observe the group of humans, some of the carers of Paradise Sanctuary, as they talked through the steel mesh separating her from the human zone.
"I've just been to see Atreyu and JD at the penguins and aquatic animals' play area," said Thymine, "And honestly, I've never seen them so sour-faced."
Guanine just breathed a frustrated sigh.
"I'm not surprised, sis," she replied, "They've been landed in trouble over something they didn't do."
"This is honestly no different from what Isabella and her comrades have done to Bellatrix and her family back in Rio," said Polaris slightly sourly. Then her mind moved to something else and her green gaze began to wander, "Come to think of it, this place doesn't feel like paradise at all for some reason despite it being called Sanctuario del Paradíso, or Paradise Sanctuary."
"Homesickness has come upon some of us, especially those that have been grounded for two weeks such as Sandalwood, Acerola, Bellatrix, Sirius and Bellatrix," said Guanine, "I've been observing Vega slouched on a perch as we were getting up, gripped by sheer misery."
"It seems that Atreyu misses his home as well," said Achernar, "According to Sirius who managed to seize the opportunity to talk with that emperor penguin chick, Atreyu comes from an Antarctic region known as Emperor-Land, a place inhabited by a colony of emperor penguins."
"I've been told that he had been rescued from a fishing net that almost killed him," said Thymine. As she said this, Spica continued examining the group of humans as they talked. There were the exact same three humans Adenine's group had seen and they were discussing with around two more humans dressed in white uniforms with the words 'Paradise Sanctuary Foundation' written in Portuguese on their backs, but Spica's face was twisted into a look of suspicion as she listened intently on the conversation which went on in Portuguese, a language she was quite fluent at despite her age, possibly due to her inherited intelligence from her aunt Bia and grandfather Blu.
"I reckon this Mumble penguin would be seriously worried about him as will these penguins called Ginny and Balthazar who must be Atreyu's parents," said Thymine.
"Having a young chick go missing, of course," said Polaris unsurprised. Ahead of the quartet, Spica did not hear the conversation for she was too engrossed in listening on the humans and she had gone to cling onto the meshes to listen closer.
As Polaris, Achernar, Thymine and Guanine continued flying on, their gazes found Spica as she clung onto the mesh wires, her ears cocked at something. Curious, the four flew over to her.
"Spica?" asked Achernar but he flinched when Spica's wing shot up in a 'Be quiet' gesture. Achernar and Polaris flashed each other a glance before following Spica's suspicion-laced glare which was focussed like a laser on a group of white uniform-dressed humans as they continued talking. One of the men was holding some sort of notepad. Thymine and Guanine also saw the humans.
"I don't like what those humans are saying, you four," whispered Spica uneasily.
"What are they saying?" asked Thymine.
"They're talking about some rare birds, most of all the Spix macaw, Lear's macaw, glaucous macaw, Cuban red macaw and the archaeobird," said Spica, "And how they want this place to have a small population of those species living in it."
"Of course," said Guanine unsurprised, "The Spix, Cuban red, Lear's and the glaucous macaws and the archaeobird are extremely rare species."
"That is true," said Spica in a low voice, "But Sirius, me, Bellatrix, Achernar and Spica; Vega and Regulus the Lear's macaws; Canopus, Katniss and Arcturus the glaucous macaws and Sylvester are only chicks and thus too young to breed as those humans know already, but…" her glare hardened, "They are talking about obtaining some adults of those species to bring here and breed instead, rather than finding mates for us and waiting for us to mature which would take years."
Polaris, Achernar, Thymine and Guanine gazed at the former two's second cousin in surprise and perplex. Then Guanine's ears picked up something from the conversation. She snapped her gaze to the talking humans. Like Spica and several others, she was quite fluent with Portuguese and Spanish for her age.
"Did that human woman just mention the Sanctuary de Amazon in Brazil?" the older Catalina sister asked. Spica cocked her ears to the humans as they continued to natter and tried to pick up what Guanine had allegedly heard. However, she did not hear it, but she did hear another familiar sanctuary get mentioned.
"Sanctuάrio de Pάssaros azuis no Rio de Janeiro'?" said the azure Spix chick with surprise. Achernar, Guanine, Thymine and Polaris looked on as Spica flashed them a stunned glance.
"That, translated to English, is 'Blu Bird Sanctuary in Rio de Janeiro'," she said with realisation.
"Blu Bird Sanctuary!?" retorted Thymine incredulously, "Why would they want to talk about the Blu Bird Sanctuary or even the Sanctuary de Amazon for that matter?"
Spica was about to answer when suddenly, a massive clang exploded through the steel mesh as something had impacted it. Spica, as she felt the shockwave course through the steel mesh, jumped into flight with a short squawk of surprise when the other four with her shot surprised gazes in the direction of what had caused the impact. Spica did the same but to their surprise, it was only a rock and approaching the rock was a familiar flightless, aquatic bird with a grey body and black and white head. Seeing the five macaws, the penguin chick gazed up at them while the five macaws returned the surprised gaze to him.
"Atreyu," said Guanine.
"You gave us quite a fright," said Spica. Atreyu, realising that he had startled the macaws without knowing that they were there, snapped his gaze to the rock and picked it up.
"Sorry, you five, but I'm in a very BAD mood," he growled furiously. The five macaw chicks could see the fire in the emperor penguin chick's blue eyes.
"Well then, uh," said Thymine, wary of the emperor penguin chick's temper, "We'd… better head back."
"We're sorry about what happened yesterday," said Spica sympathetically and with that, she, Achernar, Polaris, Thymine and Guanine darted off, wanting to escape the emperor penguin's temper. Atreyu glared bitterly after the five and prepared to slam the rock into the ground as a way to vent his rage at Lusamine and her gang and their landing of him, JD, Tiana, Jacques and some of Sandalwood's group in trouble over a pack of lies.
Sometime later again
"We know what we heard from those humans, Adenine," said Spica with a stern frown. With her were Achernar, Polaris, and also Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine. Adenine and Cytosine, together with Canopus, Katniss, Arcturus and Bambi, had returned to their hollows of stay with Cytosine and Adenine joining their sisters, Spica, Achernar and Polaris on the branch to help out with some tasks, one of which was opening some nuts. The glauvous chicks and Bambi had left to attend to some other tasks elsewhere.
"You saw and those three humans with the disgruntled looks on other faces discuss about establishing a small population of the Spix, glaucous, Lear's and Cuban red macaws in this place by finding mates for Sirius and the others?" asked Cytosine with surprise.
"We are obviously too young to have their own chicks," said Cytosine but then he frowned, "We must have not been listening to those humans carefully enough and have arrived at the wrong conclusion."
"We even told Dundee, Olympia, Kiara the echidna and Reepicheep the platypus about their behaviour but he just dismissed it as nothing out of the ordinary and that they were just discussing about conserving those rare macaw species," said Adenine, "You five must have been listening far more carefully than us."
"But why would they mention the Sanctuary de Amazon and the Blu Bird Sanctuary in Brazil?" asked Cytosine, but then a thought came to him. "Maybe they want to send some of their group members to study the Spix macaws and the other rare macaws and archaeobirds in their natural habitat perhaps?"
"But still, we didn't hear anything from those humans about them sending a group of some of their members to study those birds in those two Brazilian sanctuaries," said Adenine as he held the nut in his talon and prepared to de-shell it, "But based on the way they mentioned about bringing some adult specimens of those birds back to here because of the individuals they currently have... that is you and the other members of those rare species... being too young to breed, I somehow arrived at the assumption that those humans are thinking about going to those two sanctuaries to find some adult specimens."
"But the thing is, the Blu Bird and Amazon Sanctuaries are in Brazil," said Thymine, "And we're in Peru. How could they possibly be planning on going all the way to Brazil to visit those two sanctuaries?"
"I don't know but I don't like it one bit," said Spica with disgust, "I just hope we find a way out of this place and back to our families and home in Brazil."
"Yeah, we don't belong here, anyway," said Adenine before his brown eyes which he had inherited from his scarlet grandfather Athos travelled around the surrounding artificially grown trees and the lively animals as they went about their daily business, "Even though we have made new friends and have met a variety of rare animals from other places in the world."
With that he and Cytosine resumed de-shelling nuts. Polaris, Spica, Achernar, Thymine and Guanine did the same but some of them had in mind to investigate the suspicious mentioning of the Blu Bird Sanctuary and the Sanctuary de Amazon when the opportunity arose.
Meanwhile
Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair, Gladion, Lillie, Sugilite
Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair, Gladion, Lillie and Sugilite peered out from behind a bush, their glares fixated on their target group of flying foxes, lizards and monkeys as they sat around in a circle feasting on some fruit and nuts picked from the trees and pieces of meat provided to them by the human carers. Around the group, a variety of animals continued their daily activities, with some picking fruit and seeds, some chatting and some playing but Gladion and company were not in the mood for sightseeing. They wanted to address something with Lusamine and her group as soon as possible so they continued to wait for an opportunity to emerge. Disgust coursed through them like a sound shockwave travelling through a tree trunk from the impact of a massive object against it when they overheard Lusamine spit a snide remark about 'That miserable yellow-furred flying fox pup from Brazil' which was subsequently followed by a burst of laughter from herself and her comrades. Altair and Aldebaran's colourful feathers spiked out while Betelgeuse's pineapple stalk-like ponytail spiked out as disgust flared within their owners.
"That's Sandalwood she's talking about!" hissed Altair disgustedly.
"I know," replied Gladion under his breath, "Those brats think that Sandalwood and his group's misery is a source for laughs."
"They're honestly and DEFINITELY no different from our numerous cousins, among them Isabella back in Rio," hissed Lillie, her black feathers and ponytail bristling. The group stopped talking when they heard Lusamine and company begin to talk about Atreyu.
"I wonder what that miserable emperor penguin is singing about now?" crooned a female rusty red-orange primate Gladion and Lillie identified as a rare species of lemur, "He'd probably be singing about his misery from getting into trouble rather than his homeland he calls 'Emperor-Land'!" a guffaw followed this sentence, alongside the guffaws from the other bats, lizards and monkeys.
"You've got that right, Plumeria," said Lusamine as she ate some sort of fruit, "Too bad he doesn't have a family to comfort him whereas WE all do whenever we are down or upset!"
More laughs rolled through the group. The disgust burning within Gladion and company raged ever higher.
"How do THEY think WE feel?" hissed Antares bitterly.
"Laughing about someone who had been torn away from their families and homeland," whispered Rigel angrily, "That would be as abhorrent as laughing about Sandalwood and his fear of heights and flight after what happened!"
"I can't believe they would joke about Atreyu's such tragic backstory!" growled Aldebaran. Then Sugilite got ready to emerge; the hulking bundle of purple-tinted navy blue feathers that stood taller than the other chicks rose to her feet.
"Sugilite, what are you doing?" asked Gladion as the hyacinth macaw chick prepared to storm over to Lusamine and her gang.
"What does it look like?" snapped Sugilite and before anyone could stop her, the hyacinth macaw made a direct, stormy beeline to Lusamine and her group without a sliver of hesitation and with her dark purple-blue feathers bristling.
"If Atreyu feels so 'faded'," continued a rare deep maroon galliwasp who was named Cato, "He'd be an old, withered coat of the stuff humans call paint!"
"Paint?" snapped Lusamine in a broken voice due to laughter, "More like a withered old PLANT that's lost its use!"
With that, laughter exploded from her mouth. Guffaws from her friends also erupted but that eruption of guffawing was abruptly interrupted when a macaw chick talon darted in and seized Lusamine by the neck. Lusamine released a shriek of shock and surprise but before she knew it, she found herself on the receiving end of a glare from a pair of fiery violet eyes saturated with rage, each of those eyes surrounded by a ring of yellow skin.
"How DARE you scoff that emperor penguin's tragic loss, you SNOBBISH, INSENSITIVE BRAT BAT!" snarled Sugilite, her talon grasping Lusamine by the neck and holding her close to her face. Behind her, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair, Gladion and Lillie walked in. "How DARE you mock his near-fatal ordeal and his grief of missing his family and homeland! Why do you have to make jokes about those WHO ARE SUFFERING and HAVE BEEN TRAUMATISED!?"
Lusamine angrily struggled in the hyacinth macaw chick's grasp but the macaw chick refused to slacken it on the Livingstone's fruit bat's neck, but she did not tighten it too much as to strangle the bat.
As they watched their ringleader struggle, a dark red-brown lemur, along with a spider monkey and a galliwasp, stormed over to Sugilite, outraged glares on their faces.
"You release Lusamine this MINUTE you hyacinth BRAT!" snarled the spider monkey. The others also wore demanding glares as they scowled at Sugilite. Then two toucans and five more macaws; three being red with blue or teal wings and the other two with a rainbow of colours appeared around Sugilite, their faces also twisted with scowls as well. Sugilite then sourly slammed Lusamine back onto the ground and stood back as the Livingstone's fruit bat rubbed her neck where she had been grabbed. After this, she stood up and glared at Gladion's group.
"What do you lot want!?" snarled Lusamine.
"Yeah, I thought you lousy Brazilian birds should be back with your little friends in your own designated area!" growled the spider monkey named Guzma. Gladion just stepped forward.
"We've come to question you why you got Sandalwood and the others into trouble yesterday," he sternly said.
"Yes, especially Atreyu and three of his friends," put in Lillie. However, to Gladion's group's disgust, spiteful smiles appeared on Lusamine's group's faces and the group of bratty bats, lizards and primates all exchanged amused glances. Then they gazed back at Gladion and the others.
"Well, what can we say?" asked Lusamine nonchalantly, "You get yourselves into trouble, so you end up grounded. It's that simple."
"Yeah," crooned the others, following this word with snickers. Gladion and company, however, were not at all amused. Behind Lusamine and company, a hovering dome with stubby antennae floated past. However, it was not levitating by itself, but was moving with the head of an invisible creature, and that creature was stalking some insects that lived in Lusamine and company's patch.
"Yesterday," said Gladion, his glare hardened, "You lot were taunting those four penguins, especially Atreyu, and before you could go too far with your taunts towards that poor emperor penguin, we had to intervene."
"But then that chameleon decided to intervene and cause us, especially the macaw chicks, trouble," said Lillie, "That was when YOU lot decided to rally together and chase those chicks, along with Sandalwood and Acerola and also Atreyu, JD, and those two chinstrap penguin chicks, to the Compartment of the Carnivores where they were almost killed," Lillie then stood back, a look of utter disgust lacing her face, "I still can NOT believe all that happened while Gladion and I went to fetch Dundee and some of the other grownup animals."
Lusamine and her gang continued listening to the description of the events leaving the two toucan chicks' beaks but to the disappointed disgust of Gladion and the others, their facial expressions remained rigid with nonchalance.
"Atreyu, Sandalwood and the others hadn't been the ones to provoke that chameleon, you lot," growled Rigel angrily, the urge to shout and screech threatening to explode, "That chameleon chose to attack Sirius and the other macaw chicks currently grounded instead!"
"Haven't you heard what we told Dundee about those events?" snapped Lusamine angrily. Then Cato the Warren's galliwasp stepped forward.
"Those five macaw chicks and two Brazilian flying fox pups, together with the four penguin chicks, had done the provoking of that chameleon," said he, "Not us."
The others behind Lusamine and Cato all shouted in agreement. However, Gladion and company were not fooled. They could clearly see that Lusamine and her company were trying to deny what really happened. Then the dark rusty brown lemur came forward and seized Antares in her hands, much to the alarm of the others.
"You lot shall LEAVE this MINUTE," snarled the lemur, named Plumeria as she shook Betelgeuse and Rigel's brother like a ragdoll, before slamming him hard onto the ground like how Sugilite had done to Lusamine, "If you DON'T, we will BIND YOU LOT and SET YOU LOT UP AS SKITTLES in a BOWLING GAME THAT WE LIKE TO DO!"
Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair, Gladion, Lillie and Sugilite's faces all melted from scowls to fear and they all took a step back as their boldness evaporated almost instantly, much to the spiteful smiles of Lusamine and her gang.
"Hah, I knew you lot would be lousy cowards under that bold streak," tittered Lusamine snidely.
"You're honestly no different from the previous group yesterday," crooned Guzma. Titters then rolled through the rest of Lusamine's gang as they continued to taunt the intimidated Gladion and company. During this, the invisible creature wearing the metallic dome with antennae slinked by, not noticing that there were six macaw chicks, parrots, standing with two toucan chicks confronting the same bunch of primates, bats and lizards that had caused Sandalwood and the others with him so much trouble yesterday. Then Aldebaran furiously stepped forward, the bubble of anger he had inherited from his father Benjamin and scarlet grandfather Felipe beginning to swell dangerously inside him.
"Us, lousy cowards!?" he retorted, his beak shoved right into Lusamine's face, "I think YOU lot are the LOUSY COWARDS, NOT US!"
"YEAH, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE GONNA LIE AND GET OTHERS INTO TROUBLE!" bellowed Altair at the top of his lungs, sending shock surging like a tsunami through Lusamine and her group and causing them to flinch and back away, their faces flashing from scowls to stunned looks. However, Altair was unaware that he had made a lethal move in bellowing at Lusamine and company for his voice had travelled not only to the ears of Lusamine and her gang, but to the ears of the invisible hat-wearing creature as well. The moment the creature heard the screeches of a macaw, its body flashed into a visible blood red, making its shape appearing immediately, and its head darted in the direction of Gladion and company. Its mouth shuddered the air with cobra-like hisses the moment the creature's turret like green eyes, which had suddenly erupted into green volcanic plumes of wrath and acidic hatred, found the three red, one navy blue-purple and two colourful parrot chicks accompanying Gladion and Lillie.
Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair and Sugilite, along with Gladion and Lillie, all jumped a few inches into the air upon hearing such a loud hiss and snapped their gazes to the blood-red creature as it hissed furiously at them, its volcanic glare boring into them. Lusamine and her gang also turned to the creature in surprise.
"Dalek!?" gasped Lusamine in shock.
"So that's Dalek?" asked Altair. Gladion and Lillie, remembering what happened last time they encountered this reptile with the previous group of macaw chicks, puffed out their black and red-tinted white feathers and took up a defensive pose.
"Yes, that parrot-detesting chameleon and the same one who drove Sandalwood's group into the forbidden Carnivore Compartment while we were fetching Mr Dundee and some other elder animals," said Gladion in a low voice. Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair and Sugilite then began to warily back away as Dalek, a cat-like hiss continuously filtering through its mouth, then began to saunter towards Gladion and company, his eyes fixated dangerously on the six macaws. Then Lusamine and her company entered action mode, sneers lacing their faces.
"It seems to me that you've just led six more of your little macaw friends into the sight of that parrot-detesting chameleon, big nosed mango heads," said Lusamine spitefully. Then Guzma turned to Dalek and shouted, "Go for it, Dalek! Show these little interfering nuisances what for!"
The other primates, bats and lizards also cheered. Dalek then crouched and like a cat launched himself into the air and at Gladion's group. His mouth opened and his spear-like tongue was launched right at the macaw chicks.
"Look OUT!" cried Gladion and with that, the two toucans and six macaws all scattered, sending the sticky end of Dalek's tongue slamming into the ground. Dalek landed and withdrew his tongue, spitting out dust and sand that attached itself onto its tip, before glaring furiously at the macaw chicks as they shot the chameleon an outraged glare.
"What WRONG did we do that reptile?" snarled Betelgeuse, her pineapple stalk-like crest flaring out.
"We DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" put in Altair. Then an idea, a wise one, entered Gladion's head.
"Let's get outa here before that savage piece of work does you macaw chicks any damage," he called to Lillie and the six macaw chicks. These seven agreed to this and regrouped to leave, Lusamine and the others laughing at them but before Gladion's group could flee, Dalek had launched his tongue at the group again, the pink sticky-ended harpoon flying like a spear straight at the macaw chicks.
"Look OUT!" shouted Plumeria. Too late; Dalek's sticky ended pink harpoon hit home and struck Sugilite, hitting her in the back and sticking to her, much to the terrified hyacinth macaw's scream and the alarm of the other seven. The moment his tongue caught the hyacinth macaw, Dalek swung his head and heaved his tongue, taking Sugilite with it and flinging her across the room after releasing her from his tongue. Sugilite went careening through space and crashed into a violent tumble before coming to rest at the foot of a nearby tree.
"Sugilite!" cried Gladion and Lillie together while Altair, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares looked in utter horror. Lusamine and company winced as they watched Sugilite's painful crash before turning to Dalek as he surged like a savage dog towards Gladion, Lillie and the six macaw chicks, an explosive hiss erupting from his mouth, forcing Gladion and his company to scatter the savage chameleon's wrath. Plumeria went to help but Lusamine, Guzma and several other lemurs and spider monkeys stopped her, fearing for her safety.
"Don't," said Lusamine, "You could get hurt."
Plumeria relented and watched the imminent vicious fight between Dalek and the six macaw chicks.
Sugilite continued to lie at the foot of the tree, dazed while Gladion, Lillie and the others began to try and escape Dalek's wrath. Dalek then fired his tongue at Rigel and Betelgeuse but Lillie darted in with a stick she had managed to find and whacked the tongue away to deflect it from Antares' two sisters. Dalek withdrew his tongue and glared at the toucan chick with volcanic green eyes. Betelgeuse then glared pleadingly at Lusamine and her group.
"Lusamine, group, please HELP US!" she begged.
"But what can we do?" asked Lusamine.
"If we get involved, we could get hurt," said Guzma.
"Watch yourself, pineapple-head," crooned one of the other flying foxes and Lusamine's friends with an amused and mocking grin.
"Betelgeuse, look OUT!" came Gladion's voice with urgency. Betelgeuse turned just in time to see Dalek launch himself from the ground and fly towards her, his mouth poised to fire his harpoon-like tongue at her. The oldest chick of Spinel and Sheldon released a startled screech and rocketed upward before Dalek could pounce onto her. Dalek then launched his tongue straight up at Betelgeuse but she dodged and rocketed away. Dalek then began to chase after Betelgeuse and attempt to strike her down with his tongue a few more times but Betelgeuse kept dodging. During one attempt, Dalek's tongue flew and hit a tree branch as Betelgeuse quickly darted away. Dalek's tongue's end stuck to that branch but the chameleon tugged it, making it pop from the branch. Then after reeling in his tongue, Dalek continued his relentless chase of Betelgeuse. Lillie flew in with her stick with Gladion while Rigel, Aldebaran, Altair and Antares touched down around Sugilite who continued to lay there, her face twisted in pain.
"You lot take Sugilite away while we distract that chameleon and rescue Betelgeuse," said Gladion. Rigel and the other three nodded and with that, they began to help Sugilite to her feet while the two toucan chicks launched themselves at Dalek as he continued chasing Betelgeuse.
Betelgeuse dodged Dalek's sticky harpoon yet again as the chameleon attempted to strike her in the face with it but as Dalek withdrew his tongue, two black comets with reddish cream fronts and colourful beaks shot past and tackled straight into the chameleon, distracting him long enough to allow Betelgeuse to escape. Dalek, at first, flashed a stunned gaze and caught his namesake alien dome hat as it was knocked off his head from the impact with his front padded hands. As he did this, Gladion and Lillie, their hazel and chocolate brown eyes ablaze with fury with the latter carrying a stick in her talons, then swerved round and charged towards Dalek, screeching wrathfully.
"You're NOT gonna cause ANY of those macaw chicks TROUBLE, you scaly BRUTE!" snarled Gladion. Then Lillie prepared her stick to batter Dalek but before the two toucan chicks could land their attacks, Dalek shot his volcanic gaze at the toucan chicks and immediately launched his harpoon tongue at them, so fast that the two toucan chicks did not have time to react and dodge. Lusamine and her comrades looked on in awe as Dalek's tongue then caught Gladion on the forehead, much to the alarm of Lillie and the six macaw chicks including Sugilite who had recovered from her daze. Then Dalek, a furious cat-like hiss of fury exploding through his mouth, heaved his head and swung his tongue with Gladion stuck onto the end of it, straight towards a tree trunk. Gladion slammed hard into the hard tree bark but then Dalek swung his head the other way, dragging his tongue with Gladion on the end of it, and flung the toucan chick in the direction of the six macaws. Gladion screamed as he spun wildly through space and crash-landed by the macaw chicks, much to their horror.
"GLADION!" cried Betelgeuse and with that she, Rigel and Antares ran over to him as the dazed Gladion began to struggle to get up. However, as he lifted one wing, his right one, excruciating pain shot through it, right through the bony part.
"AAAARRRGGGH!" screeched the toucan chick and with that, he grasped his right wing with his left and twisted his face in agony. This sent immense dread tearing through the group, especially Lillie. Antares examined Gladion's wing and saw that it was kinked. He had seen this kind of injury before during an outing with his, Betelgeuse and Rigel's parents in the Amazon before their trip to Rio and had come across an injured Amazon parrot whose wing was damaged.
"It's BROKEN!" he screeched in alarm.
"No, no, NO, NO NOOOOO!" cried Lillie. From across the clearing, Lusamine and the others looked on in utter horror while Dalek sauntered menacingly towards Gladion's group like a stalking cat, his green eyes fixated on the macaw chicks and his mouth emitting a low hiss. Lillie, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair and Sugilite all looked up and gazed timidly at the chameleon as he continued to saunter towards them, intimidated by the fiery wrath that burned within the colour-changing lizard's eyes and the redness of his scales. In the background, Lusamine and company continued to watch in horror as the chameleon then prepared to attack but before he could do so, an explosive hiss erupted nearby, much to the alarm of Gladion's group and also Lusamine and her company, but it wasn't from Dalek, for he had popped his head up in alarm as well. It was not a reptilian hiss, but the hiss of a flightless bird. Then before any of them could deduce what bird it was, a long leg ending in three toes, one big and armed with a razor-sharp dagger-like claw, darted in and swiped at Dalek, making the chameleon hiss in fright and dart away. However, dirt was kicked up in the process.
Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Altair, Gladion, Lillie and Sugilite, Gladion with his broken wing clutched in his other, unbroken one, huddled together as a large, black bird with a bright blue and red head and neck and a casque atop its crown rushed in and began to viciously drive Dalek away, hisses exploding from its beak. However, before leaving, Dalek launched one last attack on Gladion's group. As Gladion and company cowered as dust flew everywhere, a harpoon-like tongue surged through the dust and stuck onto Altair's back. Altair screamed as he was lifted into the air by the tongue, much to the alarm of the others. Then Dalek, with all his might, slammed the Verde macaw hard into the ground before turning tail and fleeing as the massive black bird, another enormous hiss exploding from its beak, rushed in again and lashed the dagger-like claw of its largest toe at the chameleon, sending it into a panicked bolt. As the dust cleared, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Aldebaran, Lillie and Sugilite and the pained Gladion all looked up and saw Altair lie limply and facedown into the dirt.
"Altair!" cried his brother Aldebaran. Then an echidna, platypus, two kiwis and a Tasmanian devil appeared as the larger bird, a female cassowary by the name of Olympia, glared after Dalek to ensure that he did flee. Lillie and the others looked on as the newcomers, Kiara, Reepicheep, Flax, Harakeke and Mina, rushed over to Altair to check on him, Kiara picking up the limp Verde macaw chick's body.
"He's just unconscious," she said, much to the relief of the group, "Let's get him to the medical zone."
"We have another casualty as well," said Sugilite, and with that, Gladion came forward, his face twisted into agony and his left wing clasping his right. Flax and Harakeke took the toucan chick and gently led him away while Kiara handed the limp Altair to Mina who followed the kiwis. As the three animals left with Gladion and Altair; Sugilite, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares and Aldebaran flew up to Olympia as she glared fiercely at Lusamine and her group. Unnerved by the stern glare of the cassowary, Lusamine and her group began to think about running away.
"Um, Mrs Olympia…" began Sugilite but Olympia shot her a glare, making her and the other four macaw chicks flinch.
"To Dundee's tent, NOW!" commanded the cassowary. This made shame came over the five macaws.
"We're sorry," said Rigel guiltily.
"Just obey my command," snapped Olympia, "We'll sort this out with Dundee and the others."
The five macaw chicks were about to protest but Lillie flew in and nodded to them to prompt them to obey. Nervously, the three red, the Verde and the hyacinth macaw chicks followed Lillie as she in turn followed Kiara and Reepicheep. Olympia then turned her glare to Lusamine and company.
"You're coming with us as well," she commanded. This made dread surge through Lusamine and company and under the cassowary's command, they went along as well while Olympia commanded Reepicheep to call the parents, carers and relatives of Lusamine and company.