Chapter 43- a violent attack from a flock of vengeful birds
Meanwhile
Blu and company had just finished their dinner and put the kids to bed and were preparing to retire themselves. The sun had almost completely set and the night's darkness had almost consumed the daylight. Bright speckles of stars were also emerging from the sun's glaring light while a partial moon hovered somewhere in the sky like a silvery bauble with a light in the background. The last of Blu's group had retreated into their birdhouses and hollows with Stella and Soren joining Augustus, Melissa, Anabelle, Sebastian and Ferdinand in their tree, seeing that there was no point in staying in the burrow beneath the tree due to Sandalwood's absence, after saying goodnight to each other and the others in Blu's group. The albino daughter and her mate snuggled up to Augustus and Melissa and also Sebastian and Anabelle sombrely as the grief over Sandalwood and Acerola's loss returned and overshadowed the comedic moments they had had in humiliating Nigel. In the birdhouses and hollows, the still-grief burdened bird families had settled down, the remaining kids having decided to sleep with their parents instead of in their own compartments.
In Bia's family's birdhouse, Bia snuggled sombrely against Virgil with her wings draping Einstein and Miles. The family missed Sirius greatly. It was like having a gaping hole in the family and this was replicated in the other families that had lost chicks. Carla, Justin, Sonia and Melody felt incomplete without Spica; Tiago, Byron and Matilda felt incomplete without Bellatrix, and Finnick, Kira and Diego felt incomplete without Achernar and Polaris. However, their feeling of incompleteness was small fry compared to the couples who have lost their entire broods or only sons or daughters to the poachers and they were snuggled up in their birdhouses grieving their missing chicks, and Stella and Soren who had lost Sandalwood were also grieving for him. They had hoped that the kids hadn't been taken too far. From his birdhouse, Blu gazed sadly at the other birdhouses sorrowfully while Jewel settled down in her and Blu's nest behind him.
"The massive problem of the kidnapped kids' whereabouts certainly is burdening our offspring with grief, I can tell you Blu," said Jewel sadly, before her voice tone changed to one of smugness and satisfaction, "But at least those bratty toucans are getting caught by our human friends. Hopefully, the population will be reduced to a reasonable number so that the other residents can move back into their original homes without the worry of competition for food and space, and trouble."
Blu sighed and retreated into the birdhouse and settled down beside his mate.
"I know my one and only precious gemstone," he said sadly and tiredly, "At least the Linda's orange bat colony's toucan problem has been removed and that they've got some helpers," he thought of Andromeda and Rouge, Travis and Sunset. Because Andromeda had opted to help the orange bats and Eragon was still at Tulio's Aviary, Spyro and Marella will have to spend the night by themselves in the coming few nights, with only their bat-birds to keep them company. Jewel nodded in agreement and prepared to snuggle up beside her mate.
In the other birdhouses, D'Artagnan, Aurora, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, Jasmine, Levi and Roberto also prepared to do the same with their mates Sapphire, Zephyr, Ruby, Orquidea, Esmeralda, Cobalto, Lapis Lazuli and Brisa though Athos and Ruby had a very depressed Spinel with them and Jasmine and Cobalto had Violet, their youngest daughter who was still rather shaken from her almost kidnap from the poachers with several of the remaining kids, with them.
In Athos and Ruby's hollow, Spinel was staring into the night and the almost complete sunset, tears falling from her eyes. Like Sheldon, grief and regret was boiling within her. Out of all the birds and the flying foxes, Spinel felt the worst. Not only was the gaping hole caused by Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares' disappearance painfully existed within her, but also the absence of Sheldon as well. One thing was repeating in her heartbroken mind: 'What have I done?'. After all, Spinel had been the one to drive Sheldon away. Sofia's scathing remarks had stretched her and Sheldon's relationship to its breaking point, and Spinel, due to the combined rage and heartbreak caused by the trauma of seeing her daughters and son caught in that trap alongside the other missing kids thanks to the attack of Marco, Sofia and their comrades including Anastasia and Marcel, Marco and Sofia's mates respectively, along with Aiden getting knocked out which would have resulted in serious injury during the subsequent skirmish with the poachers and the crows and dogs and their successful fleeing with their loot in tow, and now Sofia's acidic remarks, had been pushed over the edge to the point of taking it out on Sheldon. The pink-red scarlet macaw had not been in the right frame of mind to help in the tasks and had to stay behind with Ónix the red-tailed black cockatoo to be looked after while Athos, Ruby, Poinsettia and Wilbur were out helping to catch the toucans. Now Spinel was racked with regret at driving Sheldon away, especially as Athos and Ruby had explained to her that it was not her and Sheldon's fault, or anyone else's fault for that matter that Sandalwood and the other kids have gone missing. As Spinel's mind continued to flail like a fish caught in a net in the chaotic current of grief and regret, flashbacks of her happy life as a mother before the incident then began to play in her head.
The witnessing of the hatching of Betelgeuse, Rigel and then Antares from their eggs, in that order, with Sheldon by her side and with Athos, Ruby, Poinsettia, Wilbur, Alexandre, Estelle, Cinnabar, Oliver and the other macaws and friends including Stella, Soren, Sebastian, Luna and Anabelle looking on flashed in the depressed scarlet macaw's mind, followed by the flashbacks of seeing the three chicks learn to fly and then subsequently seeing the trio play with the other chicks, among them some Spix macaw chicks, and some flying fox pups, laughing heartily, and also, when Spinel, Sheldon, Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares posed for a picture before Lucy who snapped a picture of them with her Ipad. As these memories played in her mind, Spinel's eyes began to weep, her emotions began to boil and overflow and eventually, she began to break down once again. Her face buried into her wings and sobs began to escape her beak. Spinel felt so depressed that she felt she couldn't live for much longer.
"I'm sorry Sheldon," cried the pink-red scarlet macaw, "I'm truly sorry for taking my anger out on you. I just want you back. Please come back…" and with that, she entered another uncontrollable sobbing episode. Her sobs roused the attention of Athos and Ruby and they looked on sympathetically, especially as Sheldon's name continued to escape her beak in broken fragments, and as she gazed tearfully into the night and wishing that he were flying towards the hollow.
"I know how it feels to deeply regret driving away the one you deeply love," said Athos in a low voice to Ruby, "I remember this happening once to Zephyr and Aurora before they had Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil when some jealous and spiteful green-winged macaws gossiped about them in an attempt to tear them apart but when they were given a good talk and those macaws were dealt with, both Zephyr and Aurora deeply regretted and made up."
"This could be the initial step to our daughter and half-scarlet son-in-law's road to making up," whispered Ruby hopefully. Athos nodded in agreement and continued to watch Spinel sob her eyes out, before finally rising and going over to her to comfort her. As he approached his sobbing daughter, she heard him but she did not turn to look at him.
"You and Ebony were right about Sofia's spiteful remarks being a pack of lies," Spinel sobbed in a broken voice, "It wasn't Sheldon's fault at all and it wasn't stupid of us to have Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares in the first place," Spinel's emotions then finally erupted, "Oh, how I WISH I hadn't said those horrible things to him!"
And with that, the pink-red macaw began to break down hard. Athos came up to her and pulled his daughter into a hug, Ruby joining a few seconds later.
"There, there, Spinel," said Athos gently, as Spinel sobbed in both her parents' wings, "We all say things we regret."
"Yes, even the best and truly devoted couples have arguments, sometimes heated ones," said Ruby. Spinel then tearfully gazed at her parents.
"Will Sheldon forgive me?" she asked.
"I'm sure he will," said Athos, before his gaze hardened with determination, "And after we've dealt with the toucan problem and the problem with the poachers, we'll resume searching for Sandalwood and the other kids," Athos sighed. 'We've just GOT to find them,' he thought, 'We've just GOT to'. He could not bear to see his two daughters and their mates, and also the others, grieve the loss of their chicks and pups for much longer and Athos and Ruby vowed to find those missing kids even if it meant searching all over the world. Further, they were utterly glad that Alexandre, Estelle and their son Sol hadn't come with them on the trip and were out of the way of this mess, safe in the Sanctuary de Amazon with Cinnabar and Oliver. Athos and Ruby continued to comfort Spinel as she continued to sob and weep. However, that moment was about to be shattered.
While the scarlet mother, father and daughter continued to remain in their family embrace, the daughter still weeping and gaining control of her sobbing, a shout was heard from outside, catching their attention. Athos glared suspiciously outside but then a bump sounded against the tree trunk, making him, Ruby and a tearstained eyed Spinel flinch harshly. Ruby's face twisted into a scowl.
"Now what!?" she growled under her breath. Athos then annoyingly stormed towards the hollow entrance. Spinel attempted to follow but Ruby prevented her.
"Stay here, Spinel," she said firmly, "Let Athos investigate."
Spinel reluctantly obeyed her mother's command and stayed by her side and watched as Athos angrily but cautiously approached the hollow entrance. In Bia and her family's birdhouse, Bia, Virgil, Einstein and Miles were also made aware of some shouts from outside, followed by a bump as something struck their birdhouse. The four Spix macaws flinched and the two chicks cowered in Bia's wings.
"What's that?" asked Bia timidly to Virgil. Virgil flashed Bia a concerned glance.
"Stay here with the boys, Bia," he said. Bia obeyed and watched her mate as he cautiously began to approach the entrance of the birdhouse like how Athos did in the hollow. In the other birdhouses and hollows, the other macaws, and also Augustus and the other flying foxes, and Spyro and Marella and the two bat-birds with them, one of them being Spyro's mount Garnet, were roused by shouts and noises of something slamming hard against the sides of the birdhouses and hollows. The shouts also increased in volume and frequency but those shouts were not laced with kindness or sympathy. They were saturated with the complete opposite. Augustus then commanded Melissa to stay with Stella, Soren, Sebastian, Anabelle, Ferdinand, Spyro, Marella and the two bat-birds while he went to investigate. Ferdinand timidly cowered against his mother's breast as Anabelle watched Augustus as he, while hanging from the branch by his feet, slowly creep towards a cluster of leaves. Augustus slowly parted some leaves with a membranous wing and looked out at the sources of the shouts but the moment his eyes landed on them, his heart sank and his blood froze. The same was repeated for Virgil, Athos, and also Zephyr, Sapphire, Porthos, Aramis, Jasmine, Levi and Roberto and Justin, Tiago, Finnick, Kira and the rest of the group as more and more bumps sounded against their birdhouses and hollows.
Hovering near the trees and birdhouses where Blu and company stayed was a flock of black birds with white or cream-red fronts and large orange and black, lime green and magenta or mixed coloured beaks. From those beaks erupted shouts saturated with pure acid, malice and corrosive venom far more poisonous than any snake venom or other acid while the eyes above the beaks were flooded with a highly acidic, vitriolic brew of pure hatred, rage, scorn, malice and other negative, malicious words that would take too long to list, as they glared at the birdhouses and hollows and their occupants. In the talons of those birds was a large leaf bag and out of the leaf bag came hard, grey things which were taken out by more talons and hurled at the birdhouses and hollows along with the snake venom of abuse from the owners' beaks.
From his birdhouse, Tiago picked out some familiar birds but the moment he did, hot fear tore through him.
"Marco, Sofia, Anastasia, Marcel…" he said. Behind him, Matilda and Byron who cowered together also shuddered. They knew those names meant one thing…
The birds, which were indeed Sofia, Marco, Anastasia, Marcel and many of their comrades, continued hurling a huge torrent of venomous abuse at Blu and company while throwing more stones at the birdhouses and hollows. Athos looked on with a stunned look on his face but what came out of one of the toucans' beaks made his blood freeze, alongside the blood of the birds who had remaining kids.
"WHERE ARE YOUR REMAININ' WORTHLESS KIDS?" bellowed one of the toucans, one of Sofia and Marco's siblings. Tiago flinched and jumped back into the birdhouse while Matilda huddled the frightened Byron closer to her. "SEND 'EM OUT RIGHT NOW SO THAT WE CAN KILL 'EM!"
"YEAH, ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING THIEVES HAVE DONE TO OUR KIDS!" shouted another toucan. In his and Jewel's birdhouse, Blu felt threatened, the safety of the remaining kids flaring within him. Jewel then stormily stomped over to the entrance and peered out but her fury turned to horror when she saw one of the abusive toucans, Marcel, boldly fly towards one of the birdhouses which she recognised as Carla and Justin's and, with his beak spewing venom and without hesitation, began thumping his talons and flapping furiously against the wood of the birdhouse in an attempt to break into Jewel's daughter and son-in-law's birdhouse.
"BRING OUT YA DAUGHTERS YA FAT (bleep)!" bellowed the spiteful toucan as he continued beating the birdhouse with his talons. Inside, Carla flinched at the scathing word and huddled the frightened Sonia and Melody closer to her while Justin screeched, "GO AWAY!"
Marcel, however, released a devilish laugh and continued to force his way into the birdhouse which was shut off at the entrance. Then the other toucans approached the other hollows and birdhouses and began to viciously beat their wings, beaks and talons against them as well, shouting at the terrified birds within and striking fear and terror into the chicks. Augustus saw two of the toucans fly in his direction, one of them armed with stones. Alarmed, he turned to Melissa and the others and the archaeobirds.
"Get Ferdinand and the bat-birds outa here, NOW!" he commanded. Without a moment's delay, Melissa, Soren and Stella, Sebastian and Anabelle, with Ferdinand clutched to her breast, all dropped into flight while Spyro and Marella began to order and Garnet and the other bat-bird, Marella's, out of the nest. As the bat-birds and the flying foxes hastily departed, a stone flew in and almost struck Anabelle in the back, making her shriek and Ferdinand to clutch to her breast in fear. Augustus, terror flaring within him, flashed an alarmed look and saw the two toucans as they glared maliciously at the group, venom spewing from their beaks. Then one of the toucans lunged forward and viciously tackled Soren in the back, sending him into a clumsy flutter while the other continued hurling stones at the others. Augustus and Melissa, a furious hiss escaping their mouths, then lunged at the two toucans and slashed their faces with their foot claws, making the toucans throw their heads in the direction of the claw swipes, before retreating after the others. However, their defensive attacks did not deter the toucans and one of them, the male, retaliated by jumping onto Augustus's back and tearing out some of his head fur while the other chased Melissa.
"DAD!" cried Stella. Then Sebastian flew in and tried to ward off the toucan attacking Augustus and tearing out his head hair but the toucan lunged at him and head-butted the albino bat square in the chest.
"(bleep) off, ya white lab-rat with wings!" bellowed the toucan maliciously as he did it and watched Sebastian plummet towards the floor, his wings clasped to his chest and his face twisted in pain. However, Soren swooped down and caught his albino brother-in-law just before he slammed into the ground before retreating after the others. Augustus, with strands of hair falling from his head, then hastily retreated as the two toucans continued to hurl abuse and stones at him.
While Augustus, Spyro and the others made a hasty departure from their tree, Jewel had launched herself at Marcel as he continued threatening Carla and tackled him away.
"YOU LEAVE MY DAUGHTER AND HER FAMILY ALONE AT ONCE, you INSOLENT MENACE!" she bellowed and with that, she began to unleash her fury on Marcel by viciously slashing her talons and biting him. Marcel screeched and tried to defend himself but Jewel's talons slashed over his wings and tore out some feathers. Then suddenly, an extremely loud screech exploded behind Jewel and before she could stop and think who that was, a black and reddish comet shot in and tackled the Spix macaw away.
"YOU leave my mate alone, you (BLEEP)!" bellowed Sofia as she knocked Jewel away from Marcel. Jewel went careening towards the tree trunk above Carla's birdhouse and slammed into it. Blu and some of the others flinched in horror as they watched the Spix macaw then flop down limply onto the roof of the birdhouse. Horror tearing through them, Blu, along with Zephyr, Aurora, Roberto and Brisa, flapped like mad out of their hollows and birdhouses and shot over to Jewel.
"JEWEL!" cried Blu as he touched down beside his limp mate. Marcel and Sofia looked on with unsympathetic glares as Jewel's limp body became swallowed up by five more Spix macaws. Zephyr picked up Jewel's head and upper body and felt her pulse. Luckily, and to the especial relief of Blu and Roberto, Jewel still had a pulse and was breathing.
"She's unconscious, but she's okay," said Zephyr. Suddenly, a grey missile flew in and slammed against the tree trunk, narrowly missing Aurora and Roberto by centimetres. In their alarm, these two, along with Blu, Zephyr and Brisa, shot the throwers of the stone an alarmed look, Roberto with his crest feathers spiked wildly all over the place. Three toucans had flown in and were now throwing stones at the group. Aurora then flashed a fiery, outraged look at Marcel and Sofia as they looked on with mean grins on their beaks but Zephyr tapped her on the back of the head, especially as he saw more toucans bang and beat on the other birdhouses, spewing acidic threats at the birds within.
"You go round and evacuate everyone while we take Jewel to safety!" commanded Zephyr. Aurora, without a second's delay, nodded and took to the air with Brisa following while Blu, Zephyr and Roberto carried the unconscious Jewel away, Blu deflecting some of the stones flung by the toucans with his talons to protect his limp mate and two friends, but not without extreme pain as he kicked the hard things away and his face twisted.
In the cottage, Tulio and Linda continued their usual activities when Linda heard the sounds of frantic squawking. She stopped feeding Tommy and paused to listen, wonder on her face. Tulio and Fernando also paused when they also heard the sounds of screeching and squawking.
"What in the world?" Linda whispered. Back outside, chaos had erupted. After helping Zephyr and Roberto carry Jewel away, Blu returned to help Aurora and Brisa evacuate the group as the group of toucans launched their assault full throttle. Screeches of acidic threats erupted like a volcanic plume into the night air and bangs and slams from talons, stones and beaks beating on wood continued to echo. Blu tackled the toucans trying to force their way into Carla's birdhouse and began to help Carla and Justin, who had an extremely terrified Melody and Sonia clutched in their talons, to escape. The oldest daughter of Blu and Jewel and her mate then hastily emerged from their birdhouse and took to the air. When a red, yellow and turquoise blur came in and helped to ward off the toucans as they tried getting at Sonia and Melody.
"Follow Ruby!" commanded Athos as he helped Blu deal with the marauding toucans. Carla nodded and began to leave with Justin, Sonia and Melody in the direction of two blue and yellow and two red forms hovering in the air. Stones flew at Carla and company but Justin handed Melody to Carla and began to deflect the projectiles threatening to hit his mate and his two remaining daughters. One stone flew in and slammed into Justin's head, throwing the macaw into a brief daze.
"JUSTIN, come ON!" bellowed Carla. Shaking himself to recover, Justin rocketed after his mate and daughters as they flew towards Ruby hovering in the air.
Nearby, Brisa and Aurora helped Bia and Virgil carry Miles and Einstein to safety from their birdhouse. However, the toucans, among them Marco, managed to fight their way past the two Spix macaws and attack Virgil and Bia, laughing devilishly. Virgil, the instinctive urge to protect his mate and sons taking control, his eyes blazing blue-green fire and his electric blue feathers spiked out like a pufferfish's spines, retaliated full force and entered into a savage aerial catfight with Marco. Black and electric blue feathers flew everywhere as the Spix macaw and toucan slashed their talons over each other, screeching loudly and wrathfully. While Virgil engaged Marco in combat and Brisa and Aurora were occupied with some more toucans, Marco's mate, Anastasia, lunged at Bia who held Miles and Einstein in her talons. Bia let loose a frightened scream and began to try and get to safety but Anastasia viciously tackled into her, making her drop Miles and Einstein.
"BIA!" cried Virgil as he held Marco by the throat with his talons while Marco continued dolling out slashes in an attempt to slash his opponent, his brown eyes ablaze with firestorms. Miles and Einstein went plummeting from Bia's talons and down toward earth, screaming and flailing. Anastasia, an evil grin on her face then swooped down to seize to the Spix macaw chicks but she was suddenly intercepted by a blue comet. Blu had come in and had tackled Anastasia away, much to the toucan's shock. After sending Anastasia into a clumsy flap, Blu swooped down and seized his two grandsons before surging back up towards Bia and Virgil just as Virgil had slashed Marco across the wing and crippled him enough to render him unable to fly properly and as Aurora and Brisa had managed to ward off the toucans.
"Here, get these two to safety QUICK!" commanded Blu to Bia and Virgil. Bia seized the extremely frightened Miles and Einstein and charged off after Ruby who waited in the air, Virgil, who was covered in a few bleeding scratches and torn out feathers, following.
Nearby, Aramis who had also come to help, helped Tiago and Matilda to safety with Byron but one of the toucans had viciously attacked Matilda and had stolen the chick. Matilda tried flying after the toucan but was pelted by rocks.
"Matilda, come ON!" shouted Aramis, his eyes tight shut as rocks flew at his face and upper body while his mate Esmeralda shot off after the toucan who made off with a screaming Byron. The toucans throwing the rocks continued spewing acidic abuse at the group as Matilda was forced to retreat after Tiago. However, the pair, upon realising that Byron had been taken, hovered there but Aramis urged them on.
"I'll help Esmeralda rescue your son," he barked, "You get yourself to safety."
Matilda and Tiago, tears of terror and heartbreak leaking from their eyes, obeyed and shot off in Ruby's direction while Aramis flew off after the toucan that had seized Byron.
D'Artagnan and Sapphire, along with Jasmine and Finn, had managed to escape from a volley of rocks and acidic words of abuse thrown at them by another group of toucans, among them Miguel. As the four Lear's macaws made their hasty retreat, Finn was struck on the wing by a rock but Sapphire had seized her son-in-law before he could plummet. After seizing her daughter's mate, Sapphire flew after D'Artagnan and Jasmine.
"WHAT IS GOING ON!?" bellowed Finn as he grasped his struck wing in agony, "We did NOTHING TO PROVOKE THEM!"
"Let's just GET TO SAFETY!" retorted Sapphire, her eyes screwed shut as more stones flew her and her son-in-law's way. Hastily, Sapphire, with Finn in her talons, flew off after D'Artagnan and Jasmine. Athos was flapping from one hollow or birdhouse to the next helping the others get to safety and deflecting the flying rocks flung by the toucans. Nearby, Porthos and Orquidea were helping Poinsettia and Wilbur into the air from their hollow while at the same time fending off more attacking, venom spewing toucans when Porthos's gaze caught sighed a glimpse of a pair of familiar humans in the garden, alongside two familiar shouts of horror that were picked up by his ears. Dread welling within him, the muscular blue-and-gold macaw flashed those humans a glance and saw, to his surprise and horror, Tulio and Linda standing there, mouths wide open and eyes inflated with sheer disbelief. Bad move of them to come out of their cottage and gawk at the chaos and within seconds, the two humans found themselves under attack by some of the vicious toucans. The big-beaked birds began to flap like a flock of magpies around the head ornithologist and his wife's heads and upper bodies and proceeded to land slashes and bites on them. Curses and shouts erupted from Tulio and Linda as they covered their heads with their hands. Porthos flashed Orquidea a look as she helped to ward off more toucans.
"I have to help Tulio and Linda!" he barked and with that, he rocketed off and swooped down towards Tulio and Linda, leaving Orquidea to get Poinsettia and Wilbur to safety, narrowly escaping a volley of flying rocks and a tackle from a toucan but Wilbur was clawed across the chest, before being subsequently battered by a large beak from a toucan to the face. Dazed, Wilbur plummeted towards earth but he was seized immediately by Poinsettia and Orquidea and then carried by Poinsettia to safety while Orquidea sought to Petunia and Benjamin in another birdhouse.
Nearby, Finnick and Kira made a hasty retreat with Blu helping to deflect the rocks thrown by the toucans but one of the rocks managed to fly past Blu and strike Kira in the back, much to Blu's horror.
"KIRA!" cried the Spix macaw but a lush blue blur shot in and caught Kira before she could go plummeting to the ground. Roberto then flashed Blu a look. Blu nodded in thanks and continued deflecting the flying rocks, while Roberto took Kira and Finnick, who had Diego cowering in his talons, to safety. Nearby, Petunia and Benjamin flapped out of their birdhouses with Orquidea's help but a massive wave of toucans flew in and attacked the trio. Benjamin, his green eyes he had got from Felipe blazing fire and his beak releasing volcanically wrathful screeches lashed at more toucans as they tried attacking Petunia as she tried to fly away. Then more toucans flew in and began to pelt the scarlet macaw and his great green mate and Orquidea with a massive volley of stones, sticks and talon slashes. Despite this barrage, the trio managed to beat a hasty retreat.
Nearby, Frodo, Ellie, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Tristan, Neytiri, Trixie and Aiden, desperately tried to escape the marauding toucans but a group of them pounced onto them like a swarm of starlings. Crow-like cackles erupted from the toucans as they viciously attacked the glaucous and Cuban macaws. Levi and Lapis Lazuli began to ward off the toucans by swiping them with their wings and lashing their talons at them.
"I KNEW it would COME TO THIS EVENTUALLY!" bellowed Lapis Lazuli as she knocked a stick-armed toucan away with a wing.
"THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY OUT FOR REVENGE AGAINST US TAKING THEIR CHICKS!" barked Levi as he dodged a swipe of a stick wielded by another toucan. Suddenly, a scream erupted from behind the couple, but it froze their blood into ice.
"NEYTIRI!" came Tristan, Aiden and Trixie's voices at the same time, alongside the horrified cries of Frodo and Ellie. Levi and Lapis Lazuli snapped round and when they saw a familiar glaucous macaw with her crest feathers tied in a plait fall, one wing clasping her other wing and her face twisted in sheer agony, horrified gasps were drawn in through Levi and Lapis Lazuli's beaks. Levi swooped down after Neytiri while Lapis Lazuli began to help the others to safety. As Levi caught Neytiri in his talons, the glaucous macaw released a screech of agony.
"MY WIIIING!" she bellowed. Levi began to try and check Neytiri's wings but a another volley of stones flew at him, alongside a massive torrent of venomous abuse from a flock of orange, black, lime green and magenta beaks, he had no choice but to take Neytiri to safety.
"We'll check your wing later," said Levi and with that, he retreated with Neytiri carefully in his talons after the others.
Nearby, Phoebe and Cobalto were struggling under another violent storm cloud of toucans. Some were on the massive hyacinth macaws' backs and strangling them, cackling evilly while some of the others attacked the pair from the front. While Phoebe and Cobalto struggled with the toucans, Zebedee, Iris, Indigo, Victor and Violet began to fly to safety. However, Zebedee lost his bandana in the process, having been seized by one of the toucans as it attempted to bite him only to grab his leaf bandana and then yank it away, exposing his damaged left facial side, the permanent souvenir Zebedee had been forced to bear since the Battle for the Sanctuary de Amazon with the colony flying foxes when protecting Sebastian, Stella and Luna when they were young. However, he was too consumed with alarm and the safety of himself, Iris and the others to care and began to help them escape, especially young, and an extremely terrified, Violet.
"Look OUT!" cried Indigo. The other four hyacinth macaws all looked up and to their horror; they saw a group of five toucans swoop down on them in a V-shape, their claws poised for attacking. Reacting quickly, Victor took off his fruit shell hat and tossed it at the leading toucan. The fruit shell struck the toucan square in the face and sent him into a tailspin, colliding with the other four toucans and sending them into a disoriented flight. Indigo, Victor, Violet, Zebedee and Iris all scattered as the five toucans dropped chaotically past them before regrouping. Then the five retreated with Phoebe and Cobalto, her face bearing a nasty scratch, following and their pursuers chasing them, torrents of acidic abuse spewing from their big, colourful beaks at the hyacinth macaws and more stones flying from their talons.
The chaos continued to rage. The toucans even went for Tulio and Linda's cottage and began to throw stones at the windows like maniacal vandals, cackles escaping their beaks. Inside, Fernando huddled Tommy to his chest and cowered in a corner well away from the chaos. Tulio and Linda had commanded Fernando to look after Tommy while they went out to see what was going on. The young man gasped and huddled Tommy closer to him as a stone flew through the window and smashed it, sending shards of crystalline glass showering all over the kitchen floor and the carpet like ice shards. Terrified and fearing for the safety of his baby adopted brother, Fernando hastily stood up and dashed off for the hallway and then the room under the staircase where he bolted himself and Tommy from the chaos, especially as some of the deranged toucans forced their way into the cottage and began to ransack the place, throwing more rocks and fruit all over the place.
Outside, Tulio and Linda continued swiping sticks and their hands at the marauding toucans, but the toucans continued their relentless attack. One toucan swooped in and seized Linda by the ponytail while another stole her glasses, much to her outraged chagrin.
"Where's my cellphone!?" bellowed Tulio as he covered his face with his arms as more toucans tried biting and clawing at his face, receiving a great deal of scratches to the skin on his arms as the big-beaked birds continued flapping madly all over him and Linda. Nearby, Porthos began to help ward off the toucans from Tulio and Linda with Blu coming in to help. When Blu saw that Linda was struggling to see and that her glasses had been stolen and that her arms were flailing in the air as his human companion struggled to see, the toucans savagely flapping around her head, he turned to Porthos. "You find Tulio's cellphone while I help Linda."
With that, Blu took off to help Linda while Porthos darted off to find Tulio's cellphone. However, he had in mind to check on Fernando and Tommy first. Back in the air, Roberto and Brisa flew up to Athos and Ruby.
"Okay, everyone's out," said Roberto. However, Tristan noticed that a certain group of birds was missing.
"Where are the COCKATOOS!?" he barked. Athos, Ruby, Roberto and Brisa's bloods turned to ice. Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Serena, Clemont and Yolanda and Peach! Those cockatoos were still trapped in their birdhouse, the toucans trying to force their way in to attack them. As the toucans continued spewing abuse from outside, Eustace, Serena and Yolanda huddled together as did Clemont, Rosa, Peach and Milo. Their crests were all fully fanned out and their eyes were inflated with fear, and they were all too frightened to come out. Outside, Athos and Ruby flew in and managed to locate Eustace and company's birdhouse but it was swallowed up by a black cloud of feathers with colourful beaks and fronts spewing abuse and desperately trying to force their way in. Horror flaring within him, Athos surged forward when Ruby let loose a horrified gasp.
"ATHOS!" she cried. Athos turned and followed his mate's horrified gaze and when his gaze landed on what his mate had saw and screeched at, his blood froze into liquid nitrogen.
One of the toucans was flying towards Eustace and company's birdhouse with a stick but a glowing orange, flickering ball was on the end of it, his face twisted into a murderous look. Athos immediately recognised the glowing ball on the end of the stick. Andromeda and her clan sometimes carried sticks with those balls on the end during their night patrols but they were always, always, ALWAYS careful not to drop those sticks or let them come into contact with any of the vegetation or else disastrous consequences could result, and Athos knew all too well of the devastation it caused for the bird tribes, clans and groups in the Sanctuary de Amazon and also the flying fox colony. Jewel, Zephyr and Brisa, along with Tornado and Gael, the late parents of Zephyr and his sister, had been torn from the Spix macaw tribe by it, as had Ruby and several other birds… and Aurora had almost died in the most recent one. Snapping out of his horror, Athos surged towards the toucan with the stick and glowing orange ball but found himself blocked by some more of the toucans while Ruby was forced back by more of them. Desperation volcanically igniting within him, Athos peered through the gaps of the marauding toucans as they began to lash their claws at him to drive him back, Athos saw the glowing orange ball fly towards the birdhouse containing Eustace and the others and approach the roof of the birdhouse, the other toucans cackling evilly. The moment that orange ball made contact with the wood, the ball spread up the roof as though it were petrol; a flammable liquid Athos had seen before and knew caught fire easily. Outrage exploding within him like the vapour of that liquid igniting from a spark, Athos barged through the toucan wall, sending the flock flying everywhere like leaves, and surged towards the ignited birdhouse of Eustace and company. As soon as he was close, the heat from the fire as it consumed the roof of the birdhouse stopped him in his tracks, alongside the horrified screeches of the cockatoos within. It was like hovering before a furnace but Athos was not going to let this fire burn Eustace and the others alive. After spotting a way in, the large red scarlet macaw charged in. From the ground, Blu, as he helped Linda who was battered and bruised and struggling to feel her way due to her short-sightedness, to safety, looked up and to his horror; he saw a fireball emanating from one of the birdhouses. Then after a few frantic minutes, Athos kicked open the door to the main entrance of the birdhouse and, with Yolanda and Peach in his talons, rocketed out with Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Selena and Clemont in tow before a piece of flaming wood crashed in front of the main entrance and closed it off completely. The toucans looked on in utter shock.
Athos then handed Yolanda and Peach to the adult cockatoos and barked at them to fly to safety. Milo and Eustace, both who was badly shaken along with the other cockatoos from almost getting burned alive, nodded, took the adolescent girls and rocketed off after the rest of Blu's group while Athos turned his attention to Tulio and Linda but he had a massive storm of wrath raging within him as he glared viciously at the toucans. Setting Eustace and company's birdhouse alight had been the last leaf. Inside the cottage, many of the toucans continued their rampage through the rooms, throwing rocks and screeching as well as knocking off plates, cups and vases over or off the worktop, sending them crashing to the floor and smashing into pieces. Porthos hid under the table, a horrified look on his face as the toucans continued destroying and ransacking Tulio and Linda's cottage. He could not find Fernando and Tommy anywhere but Porthos had assumed that Fernando had retreated to upstairs with his adopted baby brother but he had found Linda's cellphone, also called a mobile phone, in Linda's handbag, the first place that had come to his mind. As he watched the anarchy continue to rage through Tulio and Linda's kitchen and living room before gazing at the shattered window, the burly blue-and-gold macaw prepared to shoot outside and to Tulio. Then when the opportunity came, Porthos wasted no time and shot like an aqua blue and yellow rocket, the cellphone in his talons, towards the hole in the window while all the raging toucans' backs were turned to him. He narrowly escaped getting hit a flying cup but he still continued his rush form the window. As he approached the broken glass, Porthos folded his wings and charged right through it to avoid catching his wings on the extremely sharp ice-like shards of broken glass. However, Porthos felt something slash his left talon as he emerged from the house, followed by a searing pain from that talon. The blue-and-gold macaw's face twisted and he stifled a screech of agony, and flopped down onto the grass. As Porthos rolled over, he gazed down at his left talon and to his horror; he saw that it was bleeding, the gash on his talon weeping blood. Porthos then deduced that he must have caught his foot on one of the glass shards on his way out through the window, but he had Linda's mobile phone clutched in his other talon. Suddenly, he heard Athos's voice.
"Porthos!" called the scarlet macaw. Porthos looked up painfully and saw a pair of scarlet macaws and a Spix macaw touch down but when they saw that Porthos was wounded, horror flashed on the three's faces.
"Oh, no, PORTHOS!" cried Ruby and with that she, Athos and Blu rushed over to him. Porthos, despite the extreme pain from the slash on his left talon, He extended his right talon to Blu and handed him the phone.
"Get this to Tulio, QUICKLY!" he managed to say. Blu seized the phone and rushed over to Tulio who had managed to take cover under a tree from the attacking toucans while Athos and Ruby began to move Porthos to safety before any toucans could find him, Ruby desperately trying to look for a leaf to quell Porthos's bleeding foot.
A few minutes later
Broccoli, Daisy, Collette and James continued to shoot through the street towards Tulio and Linda's cottage, the magazine they had found containing pictures of some of the missing kids, among them Sandalwood, Sirius, Sylvester and Spica, in the Paradise Sanctuary part of it, in their clutches. James ran along ahead due to being a greyhound while Broccoli, Daisy and Collette charged at high speed behind, Broccoli carrying the mag in his mouth.
"We're almost there," shouted James at the front. This propelled the three cats behind the greyhound to run even faster. They were clearly very desperate to get to Blu and company pronto. However, they were in for a nasty surprise. As the familiar vicinity of Tulio and Linda's cottage and garden melted into view, James screeched to a halt. Broccoli, Collette and Daisy, seeing that their greyhound friend had abruptly stopped, also screeched to a halt, narrowly avoiding crashing into James's back. Then the three cats came to the front of James but they saw that the greyhound's eyes were bulging and his mouth was open in disbelief. The colour of the skin under the greyhound's facial fur had also drained to a deathly pale colour.
"James?" asked Collette but as she, Daisy and Broccoli, his mouth grasping the rolled up magazine, followed James's graze, their hearts plunged into freezing water.
"Good grief! What on EARTH has happened there!?" screamed Collette in disbelief. Daisy, James and Broccoli were too saturated with flabbergast to even speak. Gathered before the greyhound and three cats was a fleet of vehicles; some with flashing blue lights. One of the blue-light bearers was a large red truck with a ladder on its top and bright colours marking its side. From this truck extended a pipe and the end of the pipe was held by a person dressed in brightly coloured clothing, a stream of water gushing out of its mouth at the trees from which smoke billowed. Near the red truck were some other trucks which Collette, Daisy, James and Broccoli identified as vans from Tulio's Aviary and an insurance truck. However, their eyes were on the smoke billowing from one of the trees and the jet of water flying towards it.
"Tulio and Linda's cottage has had a fire!?" shouted Daisy incredulously, having managed to form words. James, Collette and Broccoli did not reply. Instead, these three's legs sprang into action and the two cats and greyhound sped off, dread volcanically erupting within them. Dust was kicked up by the three animals' scrabbling paws as they launched into a frantic run, leaving behind Daisy who was late to start.
"Hey, you three; WAIT FOR MEEEEE!" screeched the caliby cat and with that, she charged off after her brother, sister and the greyhound.