Sandalwood and his Friends and the Paradise Sanctuary- edited

by VPVPVP

Carla and company's trip to Rio goes badly wrong when some of their kids are caught by poachers. The kids get rescued and placed in a conservation area with various animals from around the world, but they soon suspect something off about the area. In Rio, Blu and the others must deal with another problem on the Blu Bird Sanctuary while figuring out a way to rescue the poached kids

66. 66- explosions of shocks and more

Chapter 66- explosions of more shocks, horrors, rage and chaos

Meanwhile

Blu, Jewel, Athos, Aramis, Phoebe and Levi, along with Kira, Indigo and Victor, Frodo, Eragon, Poinsettia, Benjamin, Spinel and Tristan continued to either run or fly along with Dundee and the other animals as they hurried through the Compartment of the Carnivore grounds. When the group of animals had forced their way into the land through the barrier once Wally and the other apes had widened the hole enough for the larger animals like Dundee and Mulan the panda to squeeze through, they had been met with protests from some of the carnivorous animals that it was not safe for them to be here since many of the animals would eat them. However, Dundee and the others had told them that they had a rescue to carry out and continued. Also, before the group entered the compartment, Dundee had commanded Lusamine and her group to return to Dundee's land and community for it was not safe for these youngsters to participate despite Lusamine's protests but the Livingstone's flying fox leader and her friends eventually complied and left for the area.

As Dundee and company continued to rush through the Compartment of the Carnivores, some of Blu's group was fraught with worry, especially for Sandalwood and the other missing kids, Atreyu, and also Carla, Bia, Tiago, Aiden, Jasmine, Finn and Spyro as well as Trixie, Augustus, Aurora and D'Artagnan.

"I sure hope my son is okay," cried Eragon as he ran along despite his shoulder still being in a cast which still rendered him unable to glide. Above the archaeobird, Gylfie and Aurum the golden fruithawks flew along, having decided to help.

"If ANY OF THOSE WILDCATS have harmed a single FEATHER on the HEADS of any of those KIDNAPPED SIX MACAWS," snarled Jewel, her eyes blazing teal firestorms as she flew after Blu who was saturated with worry, "I'M GONNA SCORE MY CLAWS THROUGH THEIR PELT!"

"We cannot have Sapphire losing one of her daughters and her mate and also her only two grandchildren," said Athos as he feared for the lives of Jasmine, Finn, Regulus and Vega. The flustered scarlet macaw also shuddered as the memories of how all five of his own offspring, Alexandre, Spinel, Poinsettia, Cinnabar and Oliver, had been in terrible danger, some several times, before during the Great Battle for the Sanctuary de Amazon back in Brazil with the flying foxes, especially during that final battle in the Spix macaw tribe's ravine three years back.

"We have all been through enough heartbreak as it is, especially me," said Spinel as she flew alongside Athos, Benjamin and Poinsettia with Mina the Tasmanian devil below them. The worry for Roberto and Finnick especially plagued her mind, "I wouldn't be surprised that Achernar and Polaris' father and grandfather back in Rio would be seriously worried for them. Same with their brother Diego."

Spinel and the others could not bear to see Roberto face another breakdown if anything had ever happened to Polaris and Achernar for Roberto had ALWAYS had a thing with poachers after his traumatic experience with one as a chick, leading to his entry into the cruel hands of a human girl, but the biggest worry for the macaws was mostly Carla, Bia and Tiago.

During the past major adventures besides the Great Battle for the Sanctuary, Carla, Bia and Tiago and some of the others including the macaws that had chosen to remain in the Amazon, such as Lavender and Felix, Finnick's brood-mate siblings, had crossed paths with a variety of dangers, some even life-risking, such as the adventure to Jurassic Jungle to find the treasure and save the Sanctuary de Amazon from losing its protected reserve status when they had to face the lethal predatory bat-birds: giant, carnivorous pterosaurs that were supposed to be extinct with the dinosaurs and other extinct animals and Chlorophyll, Aramis' son and Benjamin's brother-in-law had almost been eaten by some of them. Now, Jasmine, Finn, Aiden, Carla, Bia and Tiago were in a different sort of danger: getting eaten by a pack of wildcats in a rare animal collector's place with the façade of a conservation enclosure, and that revelation behind the so-called 'Paradise Sanctuary Foundation' project and its deeds still made Blu and the other former pet macaws' bloods boil and their stomachs churn. This was no different from that group of poachers led by Lysandre and his falcons led by Cazador who had disguised themselves as bird studiers to sneak into the Sanctuary de Amazon to poach macaws but the Paradise 'Sanctuary' seemed to take animal collecting under the guise of conservation to another, more sinister level. Pushing away these thoughts, Blu, Jewel and the others continued to fly with Dundee and the other animals through the Compartment of Carnivores, worry for the lives of Carla, Bia, Tiago, Aiden, Jasmine and Finn and also Sandalwood, Aurora, D'Artagnan, Augustus, Trixie and some of the other missing members including Spyro gripping them hard.

While Dundee and company were in the Compartment of Carnivores Luna, Stella, Soren and Neytiri were with the other animals of Dundee's community looking after the other kids. As the two daughters of Augustus and Melissa and Tristan's mate watched over Betelgeuse, Antares and Rigel, Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine, Sugilite, Lillie and Gladion, Altair and Aldebaran, and Bambi and Sylvester, the sound of the two doors on either end of the mini entrance compartment opening, accompanied by the sounds of footsteps and talking, reached the group's ears. Neytiri who was playing with Altair and Aldebaran, Benjamin and his great green mate Petunia's sons shot an alarmed gaze at the entrance compartment. The other animals also gazed at the same spot.

"Some of those humans are entering the area," said Altair as he watched some two-figured forms enter the artificial jungle land through the two-door compartment and talking amongst themselves. Sylvester, Gladion, Lillie and Bambi then frowned at the faces of the humans and saw that their eyebrows and mouths were twisted into looks of determination and disgruntlement. However, there was something else held in the hands of the humans as they continued to chat amongst themselves about something, but it sent alarm tearing through Stella, Luna and the other kids and also some of the animals surrounding them. Nick, Dundee's younger brother who had opted to stay behind and look after the other animals while Dundee was on the rescue mission, deduced what the arriving humans were up to.

"I believe they might be searching for those newcomers who have left with Dundee and the others to the Carnivore Compartment," he said, his eyes fixed on the sticks with a flexible cone-shaped mesh attached to a ring at one end of each of them which Soren, Luna, Stella and Neytiri and some other animals identified as nets. Luna, Soren and Neytiri then began to order the kids to Dundee's tent and safety while Stella crept cautiously closer to the humans as they continued to talk in Spanish, one of the languages the albino twin sister of Luna was fluent with, and began to translate as much of the conversation as she could to English for she had felt suspicion prick at her. The other animals, among them Connie, JD the macaroni penguin and Steven and Kevin who were under the care of an adult scarlet macaw and a friend of Greg and Sardonyx who had gone with Blu, Dundee and the others to help in the rescue, exchanged confused glances as they watched Stella begin to translate the conversation of the net-armed humans.

"What are they saying, Stella?" asked Soren after he had moved the kids to the safety of Dundee's tent with Neytiri. Beside these two, Adenine, Betelgeuse and their siblings slowly crept from the shadows of the tent and also listened in. Stella's reddish eyes were twisted into a frown as she tried picking out bits of words she could understand.

"They're talking about… um…" she began but she trailed off as she heard the conversation take a turn into another subject but as she continued to translate the words, her white fur began to bristle and her skin felt heated. Her face morphed into a look of horror and disbelief.

"Stella," said Luna.

"What are those humans saying?" asked Nick, the other animals looking on. Stella then turned her head back to gaze at the others, but her facial expression sent worry rippling through the crowd, especially Neytiri, Soren, Luna and the remaining kids of Sandalwood's group. The colour of the skin under Stella's facial fur had drained, her ears flattened and the flying fox looked as though she was about to become unwell. Some of Dundee's community animals threw on horrified looks.

"That white flying fox looks as though she's about to faint," commented one of the proboscis monkeys as it examined Stella's dread-stricken look.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" asked one of the grey-headed flying foxes, a friend of Shade and Sadie, Connie's parents, politely. JD exchanged worried glances with his penguin friends including Tiana and Jacques, two of the chinstrap penguin chicks but the other animals said nothing. But nothing could prepare their ears for what Stella's mouth said next but it did not surprise Adenine and the other kids of Sandalwood's group.

"You're not gonna believe this, but I have just heard them talk about some poachers and their assistant dogs and crows in the Sanctuary de Amazon and in Rio, Brazil," said Stella. Disbelief tore through the group.

"WHAT!?" shouted Nick.

"Poachers, with assistant dogs and…?" added another proboscis monkey. Stella then turned round and re-cocked her ears to the conversation carried out by the net-armed humans. Luna came in to help translate the Spanish chattering.

"…I hope our… poachers and… their helper pets… whom…" began Stella. Neytiri and Soren came in with some other animals including Nick.

"'Whom'?" repeated Neytiri with confusion. Nick the emu just said nothing, disbelief gripping his beak and blocking his ability to choose a set of words. From the tent, Betelgeuse and the others looked on but with unsurprised and expectant looks on their faces for they were already familiar with the human workers' intentions behind their 'rare animal project'. Stella and Luna continued translating the humans' conversation.

"'Whom… we have sent to… that Amazon Rainforest nature reserve… in Brazil will have…" said Stella. Then Luna spoke next.

"Caught some adult… blue macaws… four-winged dino-something-or-other birds," as Luna said this, Lillie quietly mouthed the words 'four-winged dino-something-or-other birds' while Gladion whispered, "Spyro, Mr Eragon and Mrs Andromeda's species."

Luna continued, "Ptero-something-or-other bats…" she picked out the names of other rare creatures listed by the Spanish-talking humans, among them the species of red macaw thought to be extinct in Cuba which Gladion, Lillie and the others, especially Sylvester, deduced was the Cuban macaw, Sylvester and his biological family's species, until the conversation finally resumed and Luna continued to translate: "for our… animal collection… in our conservation area…"

Disbelief tore through Nick's group as these words reached their ears from Luna's mouth, especially as Stella and Luna flashed each other a disbelieving look.

"For their WHAT!?" hissed Nick incredulously. None of the other animals said anything and continued to listen to Stella and Luna's translation of the conversation as they resumed it again.

"We desperately… need some breeding pairs… of those… ultra-rare and… supposed-to-be-extinct animals... so that they can… start families here… and establish a… population of those… " said Stella, translating the words spoken by one of the men. The white flying fox then flashed Neytiri a horrified look.

"Are you meaning to say that those humans who work here, in this conservation area, are in fact rare animal COLLECTORS rather than CONSERVATION HELPERS!?" blurted out the glaucous macaw and Tristan's mate incredulously. Stella and Luna gazed at Neytiri, Soren and the disbelieving animals behind her, among them Nick.

"So it's true?" asked Soren in utter disbelief. Just then the sounds of flapping small wings alerted them. Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, Guanine, Antares, Betelgeuse and Rigel fluttered in, confirmatory gazes on their faces.

"It is, Mr Soren," said Adenine without hesitation.

"We've been investigating that in the rooms of their section," put in Cytosine. The other five nodded in agreement. Nick threw on a horrified look as the other animals in the main crowd exchanged glances. Horrified looks also appeared on Connie, Steven, Kevin and JD's faces.

"So we animals haven't just been rescued from those poachers, some of who had some dogs with them and perhaps corvids but we have been purposely poached by those poachers and their assistant pets from our homes and brought here as a mere COLLECTION!?" shouted Nick in immense disbelief and disgust.

"That's true, Mr Nick," said Guanine.

"Those poachers, with their assistant dogs and crows and perhaps several other pet types, are hired by those humans to travel out into the world, poach rare animals and bring back here," added Rigel.

"Under the guise of animal rescuers and preservers," added Antares.

"And we believe that those poachers who took us along with Sandalwood and Acerola a few days ago might have been some of those workers of those 'conservation' humans," put in Thymine. Nick, Soren, Stella, Luna and Neytiri exchanged outraged looks.

"Blu and the others who are familiar with humans who truly care for their environment, are gonna be nauseated and volcanically outraged when they hear about these findings," growled Neytiri. As these words left the glaucous macaw's beak, one of the proboscis monkeys, who WAS nauseated and felt his stomach churn violently within his tummy, brought on by the revelation of the ugly truth behind the 'Paradise Sanctuary' project, darted off to throw up somewhere. In the flying foxes' tree, the bats, especially Connie, winced in revulsion.

"I don't wanna be a collector's item," groaned Connie disgustedly. The other animals also jerked their heads as they winced at the ugly truth and revelation. As they did that, Neytiri noticed one of the female humans armed with a net gaze at the animals with a familiar facial expression. The glaucous macaw squinted at the young woman's face and saw that it was laced with the same look Blu, Jewel and the other older macaws including her parents-in-law Levi and Lapis Lazuli had told her that Fernando, Jack and Jill frequently bore when they used to work with Marcel and Frank and their poacher groups. Soren also saw the face on the female human.

"She does not look happy at all," he said but before he and Neytiri could take enough time to examine the lady's face closer to confirm whether this was true or not, Nick's voice rang out.

"Return to the other animals!" barked Dundee's younger brother. The pattering of feet on the sand sounded as Soren, Neytiri, Stella, Luna, Adenine and his siblings and red cousins and the rest darted off to join the other animals as the net-armed humans spread out to check on them and search for 'those newcomers (Blu and the others with him)'.

As Neytiri's group darted back into Dundee's tent, a rare spider monkey came in, a shocked gaze on her face as she glared at Stella and Luna.

"I don't believe this," she hissed, "After all these years, those humans have been hiring poachers to collect rare animals rather than preserve us?"

"It's complicated," replied Luna, before a frown came upon her face, "But I hope our friends retrieve those kidnapped six macaws and four-winged bird from the wildcats so that we can make our way out of this devious wretch of a place."

Connie flashed a despondent look at the white flying fox as the female spider monkey just gazed at her and left to join her relatives as they began to chatter in despair about the news. As the spider monkey left and Stella, Soren, Luna and Neytiri turned to Gladion, Lillie and the other kids to command them to stay within Dundee's tent, Sugilite, Sylvester and Bambi gazed in the direction in which Blu and company had left.

"Please, come back with Aunt Carla and the others, Mr Blu," the three moaned together before turning and joining the others in Dundee's tent just as a net-armed man went by the entrance to check on the tree animals such as the bats.

Meanwhile

Augustus continued creeping after a few of the caracals that had managed to slip away from the massive brawl between the other caracals and servals and the dingoes as they carried four sticks, each holding a macaw, two blue and cerulean, two navy blue and one, turquoise with a grey head and neck, tied to them with vines, their beaks also gagged by another piece of vine so that they could not speak or bite their way out of their binds. Augustus glared at the caracals and picked out one particularly sinister faced one as he commanded his comrades carrying Bia, Tiago, Aiden, Jasmine and Finn on the sticks with a paw beckon in a gesture of 'Hurry up!'. While he did that and his remaining comrades passed by him, Carnassial flashed glances at the space after his group and followed his comrades as they disappeared behind some bushes. As he saw the pale brown form of Carnassial disappear around the green balls of leaves and twigs large enough to conceal them, Augustus picked up pace. As he crept towards Carnassial and his smaller gang's hiding spot, he began to formulate a plan in his mind, especially after his eyes picked out another tree trunk rising from near the set of bushes. An 'a-ha' grin then formed on his face and he began to make a beeline for the tree.

While Augustus continued to pursue Carnassial and his group with the five remaining macaws still in their clutches, Sandalwood, Acerola and Atreyu continued running along the grounds of the Compartment of the Carnivores. Around them, several animals that lived here, cheetahs, wild dogs, vultures and many other rare carnivores, were running past the trio in the opposite direction, the sounds of a commotion from the caracal and serval/dingo brawl, as well as the shouts of humans laced with frustration, anger and determination, continued to echo from the direction of the sounds' sources having aroused their curiosity that had compelled them to investigate. Ignoring the passers-by, Sandalwood, Atreyu and Acerola continued following Augustus's direction.

"Isn't it about time you learned to fly now, Sandalwood?" asked Atreyu as he watched the amber flying fox continue to run on the ground ahead of him after his cousin who was in the air. Sandalwood flashed the emperor penguin chick a frightened 'What!?' look. Atreyu looked on in worry, as did Acerola when she heard Atreyu ask that question. It was clear that Sandalwood still feared the thought of being airborne and was reluctant to start flying again despite having succeeded in climbing to an elevated branch, twice, despite his fear of heights. Pushing that problem aside for they had a rescue to tend to, the two flying fox pups and penguin chick continued chasing after Augustus.

Augustus continued creeping towards the tree trunk, his eyes fixed on the bushes where Carnassial and his gang had disappeared. He could hear the sounds of faint chirps of distress emanating from behind the bushes, which he identified was from the five macaws, alongside some quiet discussions.

"Which one shall we eat first, Carnassial?"

"Um… let me think…"

As he heard these words, Augustus's skin prickled. He knew that Bia, Tiago, Aiden, Jasmine and Finn were running out of time. Desperately, and propelled by stress, the flying fox continued rushing quietly towards the tree trunk. However, he was unaware that things were about to take a turn for the worse for him. Just before Augustus could leap onto the tree trunk, his wing thumbs ready to latch onto the rough pores of the bark, a shadow suddenly cloaked him and before he could wonder about this, some black mesh suddenly appeared in front of him, accompanied by a 'plop' as something hard and attached to the mesh crashed onto the floor. Augustus released a cry of surprise when he found himself stopped in his tracks by the mesh which deformed into a cone shape and soon, Augustus was trapped like a fish in the same device. The flying fox was then greeted with a human face laced with a triumphant smirk as it gazed at him through the mesh.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" said the owner of the net in Spanish, which Augustus identified was a man and translated his words in his head, "A rare flying fox on the loose in the Carnivore Compartment, eh," the man's face then morphed to a frown, "Well you shouldn't even be in here. This is carnivore grounds, not herbivores like you."

Augustus, thoughts for Bia, Tiago, Jasmine, Finn and Aiden who were still in the clutches of the wildcats on the verge of becoming dinner of the latter, suddenly lost his temper and began to flap and writhe in the net and screech loudly in protest. However, the man rose to his feet and clamped the net below the writhing Augustus with his other hand to prevent the bat from escaping and ignored his screeches.

"I'm sorry but you ain't goin' anywhere, bat," continued the man as his catch continued to struggle and writhe like a fish, "You're goin' back to the other compartment where you belong."

Still Augustus continued to screech loudly and flap like a flying fox possessed but the man, his grip firmly on the net below his catch, tightening the net so that Augustus could not escape out the opening, the prepared to leave for the other compartment. Augustus's explosive screeches reached the ears of the still-gagged Bia, Tiago, Aiden, Jasmine and Finn behind the bushes and their eyes lit up, but the screeches had also reached the ears of Carnassial and his remaining comrades, and they were alerted. One of the caracals, a female then parted some leaves of the bushes and saw a figure walk away from the group's hiding spot, something writhing in its hands and screeching.

"Sounds like a rat or something having a temper tantrum," said she as she replaced the leaves, before turning to Bia and the other four as they writhed in their binds.

"Well at least it is that and not one of the animals planning on rescuing these five, guys," said Carnassial casually as he turned to the terrified five macaws, "Let's just prepare to eat these five remaining treats."

He then nodded to another caracal, a male, and said, "Bring me my first macaw of choice."

"Which one?" asked the caracal. The leader then indicated with a paw point to one of the blue macaws: Bia. Carla's younger sister let loose terrified whimpers while Tiago, Aiden, Finn and Jasmine looked on in immense horror and fear, also releasing whimpers from their gagged beaks. The caracal, a wide smirk stretching his cat's mouth across the width of his face, then obediently went over to Bia and reached out to take the stick on which she was bound. Bia tried lashing at the caracal's paws with her tied talons but could not due to her talons being tightly tied to her stick. As the Spix macaw continued to writhe like an angry and frightened mouse, the other three looking on helplessly, especially as the other remaining caracals kept watch over them, Bia was moved on her stick by the caracal towards the leader. Tiago emitted Bia's name in the form of a distorted muffle for his beak was so tightly bound while Jasmine, Finn and Aiden writhed furiously, their eyes shooting pleading gazes at their caracal captors begging them to release them but to these pleading looks were futile. All the three could do was watch helplessly as the caracal underling then lay the tied-up and extremely frightened Bia on her stick down onto the floor before Carnassial who emitted evil chuckles, obviously looking forward to the rare moment he had been waiting for. However, this little group of caracals were unaware that someone was rushing for them.

Not too far away, Sandalwood, Acerola and Atreyu exploded past some piles of bones, logs and thorny patches when their ears picked up the sounds of distressed chirps, alongside some screeches from another direction. The trio screeched to a stop upon hearing this, Acerola almost flinging herself forward and crashing as she braked abruptly in the air.

"You guys hear that?" asked Atreyu. Sandalwood and Acerola cocked their ears to listen. However, as recognition of the screeches' and whimpers' owners took hold, alarm tore through them.

"GRANDPA!" cried Acerola as she identified the screeches' owners as Augustus.

"AND THE OTHER FIVE MACAWS!" shouted Sandalwood. Atreyu flashed the two pups a confused look.

"Oh, some of your relatives and friends?" he asked.

"Sorry, Atreyu, we don't have time to explain, those five macaws need rescuing and QUICK!" shouted Sandalwood and before Atreyu could protest, the amber flying fox was off like a turbocharged mouse. Acerola followed by launching into a rapid flight by beating her wings. Giving up, Atreyu tore off after the two bats. As Sandalwood, Acerola and Atreyu continued to follow the distressed muffled chirps; Carnassial began to issue Bia some taunting comments, his face dangerously close to hers.

"Now it's time to meet you end, my gang's soon-to-be treat," crooned the caracal right into the frightened Bia's face. Bia was trembling like jelly. Her breathing had escalated and her frightened brown eyes were transfixed onto her soon-to-be killer as he emitted a sinister chuckle.

"Dalek certainly has done a brilliant job in giving us five adult macaws to eat. Too bad about the one that had got away though but at least we still have you remaining five which is better than nothing," continued Carnassial in his intimidating voice, and as he did that, he clicked his claws and brought it to Bia's face to show her what she was going to do, adding fuel to her extreme fright and she released a terrified whimper. Nearby, the other caracals watched on eagerly while Tiago, Aiden, Jasmine and Finn writhed and flailed in their restraints all the more in a futile to free themselves but some caracal paws rushed in and seized their sticks to prevent them from falling over. Not too far away, Sandalwood, Acerola and Atreyu were within moments from the bushes where Carnassial and his gang had gone into hiding. Acerola fluttered upward and got a glimpse of a flash of sandy brown and some colour. She immediately shot Atreyu and Sandalwood a nod to confirm with 'There they are, behind the bushes!'

Then without a second's hesitation, Sandalwood, his gaze fixated on the tree trunk, then cornered sharply like a cheetah and shot towards the tree trunk.

"Sandalwood!" cried Atreyu with alarm. However, Sandalwood, his urge to save Bia and the other four from the clutches of the caracals, leapers onto the bark and without a second thought about his fear of heights, began to scrabble up the tree trunk while Acerola prepared to make her own attack from above. Back behind the bushes, Tiago continued throwing out Bia's name in the form of muffled cries from his gagged beak as Carnassial continued to taunt his sister, now with his flared claws.

"But there's no time to explain," continued Carnassial as he prepared to make the killing blow on his first victim as she continued to shudder and whimper, "It is time for our first meal… to be SERVED!"

And with that, the lead caracal's paw, its claws flared fully, ascended and Carnassial prepared to bring his sharp hooks down onto Bia's throat to kill her when suddenly, a furious bat screech rang out, stopping him from inflicting Bia the fatal blow. Carnassial and his gang began to shoot suspicious glances this way and that, while Bia, Aiden, Tiago, Jasmine and Finn, their gazes laced with confusion, did the same.

Acerola came swooping down like a falcon upon the caracals, her eyes blazing blue firestorms and her auburn fur puffed out once again, her mouth opened ready to inflict injury and as soon as she was level with the caracals, the little flying fox pup shot past Carnassial, much to his surprise and surged straight towards one of the caracals guarding Tiago, Jasmine, Finn and Aiden and without hesitation, she sank her teeth as hard as she could into the ears of one of them holding Tiago as she had done one of the previous caracals before, but Acerola continued her trajectory to turn her bite into an equivalent of a scratch. A massive screech of agony ripped the air apart as the caracal's ear received streaked tooth marks. The caracal's paws then went to his bitten ear and his face twisted in sheer pain. Carnassial looked on in utter shock as the other caracals went to inspect their injured comrade but before he could wonder what had caused the attack, another flying fox screech erupted but it was not from the first little flying fox.

"Carnassial, look OUT!" cried one of the caracals as she saw something swoop down at the lead caracal. Carnassial, upon hearing this, looked up just in time to see another flying fox pup with amber fur and blazing green eyes dive down upon him like a mini-hawk. Then before Carnassial could act, Sandalwood, hot rage burning through him like it had never burned before, latched square onto the caracal's face and began to apply his teeth and foot claws full force, perhaps doing the bravest thing he had ever done in his life. Screeches of pain and surprise erupted from Carnassial's mouth as the caracal was thrown backwards away from Bia and soon, Carnassial began to thrash and writhe like a caracal having a seizure in an attempt to dislodge the enraged Sandalwood from his face while Acerola had returned to cause the other caracals trouble.

While the two flying fox pups kept the caracals occupied, Atreyu made his appearance by running around the bushes and as soon as he saw Bia lying on the ground tied to her stick, the emperor penguin chick bolted towards her, shooting past Carnassial as he continued to thrash and writhe to dislodge the savage Sandalwood who continued to viciously assault his face, screeches and curse words of frustration exploding from his mouth. When Carnassial sent a paw to strike the little flying fox pup on his face, Sandalwood immediately scrambled up Carnassial's face until he was on top of the caracal's head, sending Carnassial's own paw slamming into his face, inflicting a scratch. Then without hesitation, Sandalwood began to viciously bite and tear at Carnassial's ears, making him writhe and convulse in agony as though he was having an electric shock, screeching in pain.

"GET AWAY FROM MRS BIA, you OVERGROWN TUFTED-EARED CAPYBARA!" bellowed Sandalwood and with that, he sank his teeth hard into one of Carnassial's ears again, inflicting the caracal with an extreme amount of pain and drawing blood. Nearby, Atreyu had seized Bia on her stick and had dragged her out of the danger area as fast as he could, Bia looking on in surprise and relief. As soon as he had dragged the bound Spix macaw to a safe distance, Atreyu seized a hooked bone from a pile of bones and began to work on unbinding Bia's beak with it by inserting it into the vines and pulling. It took some effort but finally, Atreyu finally managed to dislodge the vines from Bia's beak. The moment her beak binds came away, Bia was finally able to speak.

"Oh, what a nightmare," she said as Atreyu set to untying her other bounds, "I thought I was gonna be dead, especially when that lynx-like caracal was gonna slit my throat…"

When she saw the little emperor penguin struggle with the bounds on her wings with the hook-like bone, she said, "Let me see to this."

Atreyu backed away and watched Bia as she used her beak to bite through the vines and snap them. She continued to do this until she was free. As soon as she had finished unbinding her feet by biting through the rest of the vines, Atreyu said, "The other four macaws are still in the caracals' clutches."

Bia shot the emperor penguin chick an alarmed look but before she could speak, a loud scream erupted from nearby. Hearing this, the Spix macaw and the emperor penguin all jumped a foot into the air with Atreyu sensing recognition of the screamer.

"SANDALWOOD!" he cried. He and Bia then shot dreaded gazes in the screamer's direction and to their horror, they saw an amber furred form scurry along the clearing with a massive caracal, its ears bleeding and painting red streaks down the sides of its head and a volcanic look of thunder on its face, in hot pursuit, releasing an extremely loud screech on the go. Bia gazed at Atreyu.

"You go help Sandalwood while I rescue Aiden, Jasmine, Finn and Tiago and also Acerola," she commanded. At first Atreyu stood there, hesitant but as Bia lofted into flight to return to the chaos whipped up by Acerola and Sandalwood, the emperor penguin darted off after the two forms which were a well and truly outraged Carnassial and an immensely terrified Sandalwood, locked in a vicious cat-and-mouse chase once again.