Chapter 65- clouds of chaos and brawling
While the dingoes and the servals and caracals continued to brawl, attracting the attention of the surrounding carnivorous animals, many who cheered them on, Aurora, Trixie, Achernar, Polaris, Arcturus, Acerola and Atreyu were rushing along with the caged Spyro in their clutches. Behind the group, the three servals, their faces and upper bodies slashed with fresh wounds and bite marks with one of them bearing a bleeding ear where Acerola had sunken her teeth, gave chase, the fires of pure rage burning in their golden cat eyes. As the trio of spotted cheetah-like cats pursued Aurora and company, the lead serval began to spew a poisonous cocktail of vitriolic threats.
"When we GET HOLD OF YOU interferin' RODENTS," he bellowed, "I'M GONNA…" and with that, the acidic cocktail began to spit from his mouth. Acerola and the other four kids all winced and shrieked as the content of the serval's screeches, stuff that they shouldn't be hearing, explosively assaulted their ears while Atreyu's flippers flew to his ears to block out the toxic darts. Aurora and Trixie, their eyes screwed shut, continued to carry the caged Spyro who was also wincing from the acidic content, along despite the serious assault of the serval's threats on their ears and their nerves.
"So much for this place being called 'PARADISE SANCTUARY'!" screeched Aurora as she ran along, jumping aside to avoid a stray rock which almost snagged her talons, "This place is NO PARADISE at ALL! It is just a RARE ANIMAL COLLECTOR'S BASE with a FAÇADE of a CONSERVATION AREA!"
"It isn't a sanctuary either!" shouted an equally enraged Trixie in agreement, "Huh, 'Paradise Sanctuary' eh?" the little glaucous macaw flashed a series of scornful glances this way and that at the artificial indoor jungle, "'Paradise for Illegal Rare Animal Collectors to Hide Their Poached Loot', more like."
"Look OUT!" shouted Atreyu when he saw another obstacle heading towards Aurora and Trixie. The Spix macaw and the glaucous macaw looked up and saw an outstretched branch from a log. They tried to sidestep it but Aurora could not move in time and the small branch slammed into her belly, a screech of pain exploding from her beak at the moment of impact.
"AUNT AURORA!" cried Achernar, Polaris and Arcturusat the same time while Acerola, Spyro and Atreyu flinched. As Aurora was stopped dead by the small log branch, Trixie was carried forward from the momentum of running so fast and as she lurched forward, the cage of ribs holding Spyro began to stretch and distort between the two macaws much to the imprisoned archaeobird's surprise. Then a split second later, the ribcage held by Aurora slipped from her grasp, making Trixie, who still hung onto the cage of ribs, stumble forward and accidentally throw the cage like a catapult, with Spyro in it, towards a nearby tree trunk. Acerola and the others looked on in horror and the servals, in disbelief and outrage as Spyro in the cage was thrown forward due to the catapult effect initiated with Aurora's collision with the log branch. However, the accident turned out to have a glittery lining like the metallic feathers of Spyro's plumage as the moment the cage made contact with the tree trunk, the loud shattering sound of a cage of bones jumped into the air, along with Spyro's cry of surprise. Achernar, Polaris, Arcturus, Acerola, Atreyu and Trixie watched on as fragments of white sticks exploded everywhere and a metallic purple archaeobird collapsed onto his belly, stunned from the impact. Aurora, who was clutching her belly from where she had struck the log branch, also looked up while the three servals also watched on. Then the moment she saw Spyro collapse onto the ground, Trixie charged forward.
"Spyro!" she cried. Acerola, Atreyu and the three macaw chicks followed. Spyro struggled to sit up and gazed at the bone fragments scattered all around him as he was surrounded by Trixie and the five kids and when he realised that he was no longer in the cage of ribs, a wave of joy came over him.
"I'm FREE!" he cried but then he was swallowed up in a group hug by Trixie and the five kids. Aurora also flew over and joined in the hug.
"Oh, I'm so GLAD you're alright," cried Trixie. Then Aurora, despite the pain emanating from her belly, began to examine Spyro for any injuries. Thankfully, the archaeobird only suffered a few bruises from the impact, and the scratch on his neck was starting to heal.
"We're sorry for that," said Aurora apologetically, "I did not see that log branch in time."
"But at least you're free," said Arcturus with a smile. Spyro's muzzle-like beak then widened into a smile of his own. Atreyu looked on at the reunion with a smile.
"Wish I was with Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mumble in an embrace like that," he said in a low, longing voice. However, the happy moment was slashed in two when the sound of a serval cry exploded from nearby. Atreyu jumped about two inches in the air and flashed a frightened glance at the source's sound.
"Er, guys," said the emperor penguin chick, "We'd better go!"
As Atreyu said this, Aurora, Trixie, Spyro, Achernar, Polaris, Arcturus and Acerola all looked up and to their horror, they saw three extremely furious spotted wildcats, their flames of wrath burning ever higher now, charge towards them. Alarmed the four kids all released screams while Aurora and Trixie seized them and Spyro from the pile of broken rib bones when one of the servals, the lead one, launched himself into the air, his back feet propelling him like a spring. Then as he flew towards Aurora and company, the wildcat's claws flared and his mouth opened as the serval entered kill mode.
Seeing that they would be unable to escape the serval's killing pounce in time, the seven birds and flying fox pup all embraced each other tightly and braced for a brutal slashing but before any of them could feel the sharp points of serval claws rake over their skins, a BAM was heard, followed by an enraged screech and a second screech of agony, but the first screech was not from a wildcat. Aurora and company remained in brace mode for another few seconds but when they felt no sharp points hit them, they slowly looked up to see that the serval was absent from his line of pounce, but was thrown aside against a tree trunk. To Aurora and Trixie's surprise, a familiar navy blue bird with teal markings on his face and orange-yellow beak lappet and eye rings was standing over the serval, his grey eyes saturated with wrath and Aurora could see that the side of the serval's head had received a fresh set of scratches. There was only one source from which these scratches came from. The moment Aurora saw the navy blue and teal macaw which was a Lear's macaw; she felt a wave of joy wash over her.
"D'Artagnan!" she cried. D'Artagnan flashed Aurora and the others with her a smug nod as Atreyu came in and smashed a rock over the serval's head to knock him out, hissing disdainfully at the wildcat as he did it.
"I hope it hurts, spotted otter-face," hissed the young emperor penguin spitefully. Trixie, Spyro, Achernar, Polaris, Arcturus and Acerola also looked on in joy but that joyful moment was shattered when they sand Aurora found themselves at the mercy of two pairs of fierce some eyes armed with a mouth each of razor-sharp teeth and a pair of paws bearing fishhook-like claws. However, before the other two servals could lash at Aurora and company, a cerulean blur came in and knocked them away, clawing each of them across the face with her talons.
"GET AWAY FROM AUNT AURORA AND MY FRIENDS, you PESKY SPOTTED CAPYBARAS!" screeched the cerulean form, which was Carla and with that she added a second slash of her claws to each of the servals, making them screech in agony. Then a moment later several more blurs of various shades of blue shot in and ploughed into the two servals like rockets. The two servals cried again as Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus, Katniss, Vega and Regulus tackled them away from Carla and sent them flying into a nearby tree trunk. Then a familiar form with amber fur and black membranous wings appeared, puffing and panting from running along behind the macaws.
As the two servals struggled to their feet, Carla lunged at them to try and drive them away, D'Artagnan joining in the fray. While these two macaws attacked the servals, Sandalwood, Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus, Katniss, Vega and Regulus all surrounded Spyro and hugged him.
"You've been busted out of your cage," cried Sirius with relief. Spyro flashed a glance at Aurora and Trixie who shrugged. Behind them, the two servals, along with the lead serval after he struggled to his feet after receiving a bump to the head from Atreyu with a rock, retreated, D'Artagnan tearing after them with an extremely loud screech, having given up and not wanting to risk receiving any more injuries. Then Carla and D'Artagnan flew over to Spyro to check on him.
"I can see you've managed to get Spyro out of that prison of bones," said D'Artagnan.
"It was actually by accident," said Aurora slightly sheepishly, "I crashed into a lock branch and sent the cage flying out of Trixie's wings."
"That was when I accidentally tossed it at a tree trunk and it shattered like glass," added Trixie. The blue throated macaw then frowned, "Anyway, where's Augustus?"
Then Sandalwood came in.
"He's gone after Mr's Finn, Aiden and Tiago and Mrs' Bia and Jasmine," he replied. Trixie, Spyro and Aurora flashed Carla, D'Artagnan and Sandalwood a horrified look.
"Augustus has gone after those lynx-like cats and their spotted companions by himself!?" blurted out Aurora.
"He might not stand a chance against those caracals and servals," put in Trixie.
"Especially with his most vulnerable parts of his body, his membranous wings," added Spyro, "What if those wildcats decide to target him with their claws…"
"That is why we're gonna catch up with Augustus and help him rescue the five remaining caught victims," said D'Artagnan sternly. His gaze then flashed this way and that at various points of the carnivores' artificial jungle, worry coming over him, "Let's get outa here before any of those humans show up and try to catch us…"
No sooner than these words had left his beak when Atreyu saw something come the group's way, but it wasn't a pack of caracals or servals. The little emperor penguin chick let loose a scream of terror, alerting D'Artagnan, Aurora and the others. When they saw a group of two-legged figures hurtle towards them with some sort of containers, some with flexible mesh attached to a ring on a stick, aiming for them, alarm erupted within them.
"SCATTER!" cried D'Artagnan and with that, the group all exploded in different directions as a large basket held by one of the humans zoomed in and slammed into the ground only to miss. A hiss of frustration emitting through her teeth, the possessor of the basket stood up and aimed her eyes at the streaks of bright colour as some of D'Artagnan's group fluttered away. Atreyu also jumped aside to avoid getting netted by another human, a man, with a net, before scrabbling to flee. Nearby, more humans had come in to try and quell the brawling dingoes, caracals and servals, the surrounding animals looking on, too frightened to help but the inferno was burning so high that it proved a real challenge for them and a few of them received quite some nasty scratches and bite wounds from a few servals and caracals when they seized them and dragged them out of the battle cloud. Cries of pain took off into the air as these humans were scratched and bit. While this was happening, the humans pursuing D'Artagnan and company began to attempt to catch them again. Sandalwood managed to jump backwards from another woman who tried to trap him in another net. As her net slammed to the ground where the little flying fox pup had been a second before, the woman emitted a curse word in Spanish and glared fiercely at Sandalwood, her net poised to strike again. Sandalwood backed away from the human toward a tree trunk, his green eyes inflated with immense fear as the human towered over him, her net in her hands.
However, as the woman advanced towards Sandalwood, her comrades busily chasing after D'Artagnan and the others including Acerola and Atreyu as they dodged and dived out of the way of their baskets, boxes and nets as the humans swiped them at them, to Sandalwood's alarm, a sandy brown blur dived in and tackled the woman to the side. Sandalwood released a scream of terror as he watched the human female stumble and then fall into a bush but then his green eyes caught sighted the woman's tackler and within moments, he was on the receiving end of that tackler's eyes… and they belonged to a familiar female caracal. Sandalwood snapped his frightened gaze to the caracal's bitter glare consisting of hatred and malice saturated eyes and borne teeth. And based on a set of red lines strewn across the caracal's plain sandy brown coat, the result of one of the dingoes attacking her, and her feminine features, Sandalwood identified the caracal as Shenzi, much to his immense alarm, and Shenzi was saturated with pure vengeance and wrath.
"YOU little RAT WITH WINGS AGAIN, huh?" growled the caracal viciously, "I might have known it was YOU who guided those Australian dogs into attacking us and interruptin' our imminent rare meal."
Sandalwood's eyes darted to a flash of cerulean behind Shenzi as Carla, with an especially terrified Sirius, Spica and Bellatrix in her talons, narrowly escaped getting trapped under a box by one of the humans before his eyes returned to the laser-like malice beam in Shenzi's eyes. Sandalwood then tried to swallow his fear and put on a brave face.
"YOUR rare meals!?" he retorted, "YOU can't eat INNOCENT PARROTS, CERTAINLY NOT some of our FAMILY MEMBERS!"
Immediately, regret at revealing the fact that Carla, Bia, Tiago, Finn, Jasmine and Aiden were part of his extended family stung him and Sandalwood's black wings flew to his mouth. Shenzi flashed a look of confusion.
"Family members?" she said.
"It's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS," snapped Sandalwood fiercely, the first fierce voice he had managed to get out in his life, "I'm just saying that YOU CANNOT EAT INNOCENT PARROTS!"
Shenzi was about to retort when suddenly, "SANDALWOOD!"
Hearing his name, Sandalwood snapped his gaze to his name's caller and saw Atreyu, together with Acerola, Regulus, Vega and Spyro, gaze at him in horror, especially at the sight of the caracal confronting him. However, the four could not remain stationary for long and were forced to move when a net came their way, one of the other men attempting to catch them only for them to dodge and flee. Shenzi also flashed a glance at the four gazers as they scattered and turned her bitter gaze back at Sandalwood.
"Time to cut to the chase I think," snarled the caracal and with that, she entered killer mode and crouched into a pouncing position, her teeth bared and her fur spiked out. Sandalwood, upon seeing the transformation of his confronter, especially as her fiery eyes bore into him like a serpent's glare, snapped his glance this way and that until his eyes landed on a nearby rock. Thinking quickly, especially as Shenzi lurched towards him with her mouth open wide not to eat him but to kill him, Sandalwood seized the rock and stuffed it right into the caracal's mouth, making her bite down on it, much to her outraged surprise.
As Shenzi then began to struggle to dislodge the rock from her mouth with a paw, Sandalwood made his escape. The little flying fox pup charged past the brawling dingoes, caracals and servals with the humans struggling to break up their fight and rushed towards the tree. As Sandalwood charged along, a serval, Alecto who was covered in cuts from her landing in some thorns, flew his way as a dingo powerfully kicked her with his back feet like a horse. Sandalwood was forced to brake to a halt as the serval crash-landed in his path but she got up and glared daggers with her dingo opponent, too blinded by anger to notice a spot of amber fur and black membrane wings near her. As the dingo and serval began to circle each other, their eyes locked and their fur puffed out, as well as their mouths emitting a growl and a hiss, Sandalwood charged along when he heard a caracal screech behind him. The little bat stole a terrified glance behind him and when he saw that Shenzi, who had managed to spit the rock out of her mouth, was hot on his tail, alarm exploded within him. Frightened, Sandalwood charged on and soon, a vicious caracal-versus-flying fox pup chase erupted as Shenzi began to pursue Sandalwood around the clearing and around a variety of obstacles such as trees, bone piles and rocks. Occasionally, Shenzi would try to swipe Sandalwood with a paw only for him to dodge and continue running while Sandalwood sometimes hopped over smaller obstacles such as a stray bone or small rock with the caracal bounding after him, sometimes launching a paw swipe at the pup only to miss. Then after cornering a log and some bones, the flying fox pup and the caracal raced towards the inferno of brawling dingoes, servals and caracals and also the humans trying to quell the fight.
As soon as he was near the humans, Sandalwood began to weave in and out of the humans' legs, narrowly avoiding getting stepped on as feet slammed into the ground, forcing Shenzi into following him and doing the same, causing chaos for the humans and adding to the difficulty in their task of quelling the brawl between the caracals, servals and dingoes. Sandalwood, due to his smaller size, was able to weave in and out of the humans' legs unnoticed. All he had to do was avoid the feet but since Shenzi was much bigger than him, she the clutter of legs a huge obstacle to pass through. Legs snagged onto her body and she unintentionally toppled those humans and made them fall down, much to their frustration. One of them landed on his backside right into a patch of thorns with a massive scream of agony as the needles jabbed his rear. Shenzi, who was too engrossed in chasing Sandalwood, however just raced by and didn't even flash a regretful glance at the human. Then after causing two more humans to fall flat on their faces, one of them holding and restraining a dingo only for it to leap out of his arms and pursue a serval, Shenzi pursued Sandalwood into a nearby clearing.
While Shenzi continued to viciously chase Sandalwood; Acerola, together with Carla, Aurora, D'Artagnan, Trixie, Spyro, Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Canopus, Katniss, Vega, Regulus, Achernar, Polaris, Arcturus and Atreyu continued to dodge their pursuers' attempts to catch them in their nets, boxes and baskets. Aurora, D'Artagnan and Carla, with a very frightened Sirius, Spica and Bellatrix in their talons, continued darting out of the path of the swiping nets and boxes held by two of the humans as they continued to attempt to trap them in those catching tools, the two humans' comrades continuously going after Trixie and the others with their nets and boxes only for these animals to dodge and dive out of the way. One of the men lurched towards Spyro, who had Arcturus, Canopus and Katniss in his fore-wings with a net. Spyro, alarmed, dived to one side as the three glaucous macaw chicks screamed, sending the man slamming onto his front and sliding headfirst into a bush. Nearby, Atreyu and Acerola continued darting from side to side as a woman tried trapping them in a box, her determination and frustrated rage-fuelled glare fixated on them. With a frightened gasp, the emperor penguin chick seized the flying fox pup and dived to one side as the woman's box slammed onto the spot where the two of them had been a second before. The woman then picked up the box and launched at the emperor penguin and bat pup again with it but Atreyu jumped in the opposite direction to avoid the attempt, sending the box crashing once again into the sand. Then after another three attempts of picking up the box and trying to trap the two animals in the box only to miss on all three times, the woman gasped as Atreyu rocketed through her legs with Acerola in her wings. Stunned, the woman fell onto her belly as Atreyu quickly took Acerola to safety, a terrified glance flashed at the collapsed human.
"Where's Sandalwood?" cried Acerola. Atreyu looked this way and that until his eyes landed on a small amber and black form being viciously chased by a lynx-like cat with sandy brown fur, an enraged screech exploding from her mouth as her paw lurched towards the amber furred form to swipe him only for him to corner sharply and dodge. Alarmed, Atreyu and Acerola drew in horrified gasps.
Trixie shoved Vega and Regulus out of the way as a net held by one of the men came swooping down on them before jumping onto the man's head and applying her talons full force. The two Lear's macaw chicks, together with Polaris and Achernar, watched on in amazement as the little glaucous macaw, her eyes blazing very dark blue firestorms and her beak emitting a savage, wrath-filled cat-like screech, then began to savagely attack the man like an eagle. The man dropped his net and sent his hands to his head to protect it as Trixie continued slashing her claws over his head and shoulders and drawing blood, agonised screams and curse words in Spanish erupting from his mouth.
"Go, AUNT TRIXIE!" cried Vega as she watched the little glaucous macaw continue her relentless attack on the human. The other three also cheered on Trixie as her beak went straight for the human's hands and latched onto one of them in a HARD bite. The human screamed as agony seared through the area where Trixie's beak had attached began to try and dislodge Trixie from his hand, but Trixie immediately released her grip on the human's hand, making the human grasp his bitten and bleeding hand with the other. Trixie was about to launch another vicious attack of clawing and biting on the human when suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream erupted nearby, but it was not from Sandalwood or Atreyu and Acerola or Spyro, or the chicks. Their blood freezing and Trixie's rage flashing immediately to horror, Trixie and the others all converged their horrified glances on the screamers but when they saw who they were, their hearts and stomachs dropped like wounded birds.
"AURORA, D'ARTAGNAN, CARLA!" cried Trixie. The others looked on to see that the three said birds, together with Sirius, Spica and Bellatrix, had been successfully netted by one of the women, who was calling to her comrades that she had caught some of them and was demanding a cage before the six birds could start viciously escaping the net. Sandalwood also briefly flashed a glance at D'Artagnan and the other five in the net but he was forced to snap out of that glance as Shenzi launched another paw swipe at him and continued chasing him about the clearing, and Atreyu and Acerola had launched into a chase after the latter's cousin and his chaser to help him out of that situation, leaving the others to gaze in utter horror at D'Artagnan, Carla and Aurora as they held Sirius, Bellatrix and Spica who were frightened and cowering in their wings, as they gazed in disbelief at their captor.
Around their captor, several of the other humans had hurried off to seize a cage. Then Trixie's volcanic rage took control of her once again as the urge to save the six macaws erupted within her and she launched once again into savage attack mode. With an extremely loud screech and surging towards the woman holding the five Spix macaws and D'Artagnan in the net, making the woman look up and her way in surprise, Trixie prepared her talons and as soon as she was near the woman, she scored her talons right over the woman's face, sending her head jerking in her direction of flight and loosening her grip on the net. As soon as the net was loosened, D'Artagnan and Aurora attempted to remove the ring holding the mesh of thread over them and Carla, Sirius, Bellatrix and Spica but a pair of human hands rushed in and slammed onto the ring of the net, preventing the six macaws' escape. Spyro, after commanding Katniss, Canopus and Arcturus to dive into hiding, then rushed towards the man as he held the net firmly over the six macaws to attack him but before he could launch himself into the air at the man's head, the archaeobird was suddenly plunged into darkness. However, Spyro failed to notice this until he struck against a firm surface. After this, alarm tore through the four-winged bird as he found that he was trapped in a solid cube without a floor, especially as he heard a muffled voice, his captor, yell at the other humans that he has caught 'the prehistoric dino-bird' in Spanish.
Not too far away, Canopus, Katniss, Arcturus, Vega, Regulus, Polaris and Achernar all looked on in utter horror as the man that had thrown the box over Spyro and as another woman finally captured the enraged Trixie with another net, forcing the glaucous macaw into crashing onto the floor. However, still fuelled by rage, Trixie began to viciously writhe in the net's mesh but a pair of human arms, both protected by a thick coat and gloves to prevent her from sinking her beak or slashing her claws over the arms' owner's skin, came in and surrounded her to restrain her. Nearby, two more women helped the woman whom Trixie had clawed across the face, to her feet and began to treat her bleeding wound with some medical towels. From their net prison, Aurora, D'Artagnan, Carla, Sirius, Bellatrix and Spica looked on in utter horror as Trixie struggled in the man's protected arms, screeching and struggling to writhe her way out of the clamp but the man refused to slacken his arms. The seven kids then exchanged glances as the comrades of the captors then came in to help the three humans cage their caught birds.
"We've gotta do something, guys," said Vega. As the female Lear's macaw chick said this, Regulus shot the woman who had boxed Spyro a fiery glare.
"Then SOMETHING IT IS!" bellowed Vega's brother as a surge of courage took hold of him. Then without hesitation and before anyone could stop him, Regulus lofted himself into flight and began to surge towards the woman that had caught Spyro like a multi-coloured comet.
"Regulus, NO!" cried Vega but her brother was already out of earshot. From their net prison, D'Artagnan, Aurora, Carla, Spica, Bellatrix and Sirius watched on in astonishment and horror as Regulus surged towards the woman holding Spyro under the box.
"What is that Lear's macaw chick DOING!?" cried Aurora.
"He's gonna put himself in danger," cried Sirius.
"Regulus, TURN ROUND AND FLY TO SAFETY!" cried Carla. Regulus, his anger and determination to rescue Spyro deafening him to Carla's shouts at him to fly to safety, continued rocketing towards the woman who held Spyro under the box, his orange eyes blazing infernos. One of the men who had a cage in his hand saw the dark blue comet shoot towards his colleague. Alarmed, he called out to the woman in Spanish. The woman flashed him a surprised glance and turned round but the moment she did, a set of tiny needle-like claws belonging to a navy blue macaw chick plunged right into her face, hitting her forehead. With a massive scream of sudden pain and of surprise, the woman was bowled over by the incensed Regulus as he plunged his tiny claws into her face, releasing her weight from the box and allowing Spyro to lift it off of himself.
As soon as she was knocked down, Regulus began to flutter about the woman's head and bite and claw her, screeching furiously. As they watched Regulus then unleash his fury on Spyro's captor, Vega shot the other five kids a look having changed her mind about staying out of the commotion.
"Time to help my big bro, I think," she growled. Canopus, Katniss, Achernar, Polaris and Arcturus all nodded in agreement and then without another second's hesitation, all six pairs of chick wings were opened and all six of them lofted into flight and surged like tiny comets towards the humans, especially towards the captors of Trixie, and D'Artagnan and the Spix macaws while Regulus continued his assault on the woman, landing a bite of his beak or slash of his tiny claws on whatever area of skin he could find. With her hands covering her head as Regulus continued his savage attack, the woman called out to her comrades to take the captured birds away in Spanish. At her command, the man that had hooked Trixie then removed the glaucous macaw from the net with Trixie's captor's help, picked her up and prepared her for caging as one of the other men rushed forward but before the two men could cage Trixie, several comets of various shades of blue, and some grey, comets charged in and tackled both men square in the face. The man holding Trixie was bowled over as Arcturus, Canopus and Katniss, their faces saturated with volcanic rage, ploughed into his face.
Trixie cried in shock as she was thrown from the man's protected arms and across the nearby clearing. However, she had managed to stop herself from crashing into the sand by flapping her wings. As soon as she had done that, Trixie looked on in horror and bewilderment as the other three chicks, Vega, Achernar and Polaris, savagely went for the man holding down D'Artagnan, Aurora, Carla, Bellatrix, Sirius and Spica under the net and knocked him down as well, allowing the six macaws to escape. Achernar and Polaris then retreated to a spot to rest but found themselves cloaked by shadow. The pair looked up and saw a man approach them with a cage but before he could threaten the two Spix macaw chicks, a metallic purple blur shot in and tackled right into the man's side. Spyro, his blue eyes ablaze with wrath and the instinct to protect the two chicks controlling him had rushed in and charged into the man's side to knock him away from the two chicks. Polaris and Achernar flinched as they watched the man then tumble towards some of the frightened animals that had come to watch the commotion, too afraid to come in and help, Spyro having tackled him with such force. The animals then scattered as the man then crashed into a bush, dazed.
While this happened, Canopus, Katniss, Vega and Arcturus found themselves at the mercy of a woman armed with another net but before she could plunge the mesh on a ring and stick onto the four chicks. The three glaucous macaws and Lear's macaw chicks shuddered as the woman advanced towards them, her eyes blazing with frustrated rage. Nearby, Regulus sent another man stumbling towards a vulture's nest to drive them away from Aurora as she held a terrified Bellatrix, Spica and Sirius in her wings, the man trying to swipe his hands at him and protect this face and upper body at the same time.
"Regulus!" cried Aurora, the three Spix chicks in her wings looking on in silent horror as they watched the Lear's macaw chick continue to buzz and dart around the man's head and upper body like a navy blue bee. As this happened, Sandalwood continued to try and outrun the still-enraged Shenzi as she chased him like an enraged cat after a mouse when he saw Regulus continue to attack the man. Seizing the opportunity, the little bat-pup, despite the fatigue that had set in his muscles and breathlessness gripping him, surged forward with Shenzi in hot pursuit. Behind Shenzi, Atreyu and Acerola continued following but they screeched to a halt when they saw what was imminent.
"Sandalwood!" cried Acerola. As Sandalwood approached the tumbling man under the attack of Regulus, Shenzi let loose a cackle behind him when she heard that the bat pup was tiring from running around so much.
"I've got ya now, ya little rat with wings!" she crooned, "As soon as I have ya, I'm gonna do what Carnassial would have done to you during his previous chase."
Sandalwood didn't look back at his chaser and continued running. As soon as he was near the human's feet as he continued to try and drive away his tiny Lear's macaw attacker, unaware of the surroundings around his feet, Sandalwood jumped right over the man's right foot. Shenzi, upon seeing this, tried to follow the little amber flying fox pup through the man's legs but because she was bigger, the man's legs snagged onto her body! The man let loose a cry of surprise as he felt his legs catch onto something but with a final tackle from Regulus to his face, his balance was thrown right off. Aurora, Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix, Carla, D'Artagnan, Trixie, Spyro, and also Atreyu and Acerola watched on as the man fell like a tree over Shenzi and landed right into a vultures' nest! The vultures all jumped out of the way as the massive human crashed into their precious construct and its contents. Then seeing that their hard work in constructing the nest was ruined, the vultures felt rage consume them and within seconds, the man found himself at the mercy of the beaks and talons of the carnivorous scavengers as they began to attack and claw him.
Atreyu and Acerola flashed a smug glare at the human as he continued to be under attack from the vultures and also at Shenzi as she was dazed from the human's legs catching her when Acerola's eyes saw something threaten four familiar chicks. The flying fox pup turned and saw Katniss, Vega, Canopus and Arcturus under threat from the woman with a net. Without hesitation, Sandalwood's cousin charged forward and as soon as she was near the woman, Acerola tackled the person square in her face and sent her stumbling away from the four chicks. The woman let loose a cry with shock before her foot snagged onto a stone and she was sent tumbling into a thorn patch, Acerola, Atreyu, Canopus, Katniss, Vega and Arcturus all flinched as the sound of thorny vines was crushed, followed by a massive scream of agony. Acerola then looked up and blew a disdainful raspberry at the woman as she struggled painfully in the thorn patch.
"Serves you right for treating us like things, you rotten poacher!" she yelled scornfully. As she said this, Spyro and the others including Atreyu and Sandalwood who was puffing and panting so much from all that running, all gathered around her.
"Excellent job, Acerola and Regulus," said Aurora as she shot an unsympathetic glare at the woman in the thorn patch. However, the moment of relief was cut off as the group found themselves cloaked with shadow again. The group of animals all turned and saw a number of the humans advance towards them with nets, boxes and two cages.
"Oh, mangoes and oranges!" hissed Trixie in frustration.
"Don't those pesky humans ever give up!?" asked Spyro. Acerola, Atreyu and Sandalwood then felt a thought enter their heads.
"I wonder how Grandpa is doing," said Acerola. Sandalwood's eyes lit up and he darted off in the direction where Augustus had left to rescue Bia, Finn, Tiago, Jasmine and Aiden.
"Sandalwood!" cried Atreyu and he retreated after him with Acerola following, leaving Spyro, Aurora, Trixie, Carla, D'Artagnan and the ten kids. Timid glances flashing at the humans as they prepared to lurch forward and capture them, Trixie commanded Spyro to take Sirius and the others to safety.
"You take those ten outa here and find Blu and company while we distract those humans and keep them occupied," commanded the little glaucous macaw. At first, Spyro hesitated, the concern for the four macaws' safety holding him in place. However, Aurora reinforced Trixie's command.
"That's an ORDER, Spyro!" said the pigtailed Spix macaw authoritatively. Spyro, jolted by the command, then nodded and immediately retreated to safety with Sirius, Spica, Bellatrix and the other six in tow while Aurora, Trixie, D'Artagnan and Carla prepared to wreak more trouble for the humans as they closed in on the quartet with their nets, boxes and cages again. As they left, Sirius flashed a worried glance back at Carla and the other three.
"I hope Grandpa Blu and company get there in time," he said.
"And I sure hope Mr Augustus rescues Mom, Uncle Finn, Aunt Bia, Uncle Aiden and Uncle Tiago from that Carnassial and a few of his comrades as well," put in Regulus. The others flashed him an agreeing look before following Spyro to safety just as the chaos between Carla, Aurora, D'Artagnan and Trixie and their would-be human captors erupted once again as the latter group lurched at the four macaws to try and catch them only for the four macaws to dodge and retaliate with a savage barrage of clawing and biting with their talons and beaks.