Chapter 97- the final leaves regarding the toucans' destructive behaviours
While the family of six glaucous macaws continued to talk in the artificial jungle chamber, the rustling of some leaves sounded nearby, alerting them. Levi and his family then began to examine the artificial chamber, and Aiden paced backward towards a bush. Then suddenly, something, a large golden and yellow form that was slightly bigger than Levi and Lapis Lazuli, jumped out from the bush and pounced onto Aiden and pinned the Mohawk-like-crested glaucous macaw on his back against the floor with an orange talon to the neck. Aiden's yelp startled Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Trixie, Neytiri and Tristan into leaping about a foot into the air and whirl round in Aiden's direction.
"GOTCHYA, you HORRIBLE TOUCAN!" snarled the golden and yellow feathered form at Aiden, her sparkling golden wings spread out, much to the glaucous macaw's whimpering and twisting of his face as he expected a bite to it from the hawk's black and orange beak. However, when the gold and yellow form, which was a fruithawk, gazed at Aiden up and down and realised that he wasn't what he thought she was, lowered her hostility.
"Gylfie!" shouted Levi's voice as the fruithawk, Gylfie, lifted her foot off of Aiden's neck, allowing him to sit up and cough and rub his throat. While Tristan, Neytiri and Trixie went to help Aiden to his feet, Levi and Lapis Lazuli met with Gylfie who shot the glaucous macaw couple an apologetic look.
"Sorry, I thought he was one of them marauding toucans from through there," said the fruithawk, with a talon point to the open door. She then directed her apologetic gaze at Aiden as he continued to rub his throat.
"Your beak did look way too small and too drab coloured to one of them," she continued, "In addition to your pale blue and grey plumage and yellow eye rings and beak mark."
"You sure have a lot of strength in your feet," said Aiden, his face twisted in slight pain and after he had finished rubbing his throat. Then a confused look came upon his face. This was replicated on the faces of the other five glaucous macaws.
"What?" asked Aiden.
"What do you mean by 'one of them'?" asked Lapis Lazuli. Neytiri, Trixie and Tristan just exchanged confused glances but then Levi put on a suspicious frown.
"Are you meaning to say that one of them…" he began but Gylfie nodded her head and timidly backed away into another bush.
"Gylfie," said Lapis Lazuli as the golden fruithawk was enveloped in the shadow of the bushes until her eyes were the only parts of her visible. Then Lapis stood back, a confused look on her face.
"I think it's the trauma of the fire as well as losing Aurum that's made her very timid," she said to Levi. However, her mate still wore a suspicious look on his face and he began to examine the trees.
"Stay with Gylfie, Lapis," said he, "I smell a tree frog around here."
And with that, he sauntered off, leaving a confused Lapis Lazuli to look after the timid Gylfie under the bush. Then Tristan, Trixie, Aiden and Neytiri came in.
"Something wrong, Mom?" asked Trixie.
"Gylfie's just a bit scared, that's all, Trixie. Apparently, there is something in here that is frightening her," said Lapis Lazuli and with that, she directed a sympathetic gaze at the shuddering Gylfie under the bush. Trixie exchanged confused looks with the other three glaucous macaws who only shrugged.
At the doorway, Sardonyx and Greg walked in with some fruit in a basket for Gylfie but when they saw the group of six glaucous macaws with one of them sauntering away with a suspicious look on his face scouring the chamber, the two scarlet macaws gazed at each other and left to find out what was going on. Levi, however, didn't step away from his mate, son, daughter and two in-laws when suddenly, a, "Well, hello, Levi," made him jump. The glaucous macaw shot confused looks this way and that until his gaze landed on a familiar black, red-rimmed cream fronted form with a large orange beak and black tip perched on a tree branch just outside the hollow. Levi's face morphed into a look of shock at the sight.
"Mabel!?" he shouted, "What are you doing in here?"
As he spoke, Mabel flashed a proud, smiley glance into the hollow and returned her gaze to Levi. Nearby, Lapis Lazuli, Trixie, Tristan, Aiden and Neytiri, and now Sardonyx and Greg as well, walked in and when they saw Mabel, disgusted shock tore through them and Trixie retreated under the bush with Gylfie, not wanting to see this bratty toucan loitering around in the artificial habitat chamber. Then Levi saw that Mabel had flashed a glance into the hollow while he was asking the question.
"What have you got hiding in there?" he asked, approaching the foot of the tree and climbing up its trunk for he was still grounded with his wings still missing some of its flight feathers from the attack earlier. Mabel, at first, spread her wings protectively across the hollow and stonewalled him from access, especially as Levi got nearer and nearer. However, when she saw the look on the glaucous macaw's face begin to morph into a thunderous one, she relented and dropped her wings.
"I guess you're gonna have to have a look in anyway," she said and stepped aside as Levi walked towards the hollow hole and craned his neck inside. On the ground, Neytiri, Tristan and Aiden flashed Lapis Lazuli a worried look, before their gazes turned to Mabel, disgust taking over the worry in their faces. Greg and Sardonyx, who had both arrived with the basket of fruit for Gylfie, then asked Lapis Lazuli of Gylfie's whereabouts.
"Under that bush," said Lapis Lazuli in a low voice, directing the two scarlet macaws to the bush where Gylfie and Trixie were. After saying thanks, Greg and his mate left with the fruit in the bush's direction while Lapis Lazuli resumed her gaze on the tree, just in time to see Levi retract his head from the hollow and shoot Mabel a surprised gaze, but that gaze was also laced with immense disgust and disapproval.
"You've laid another clutch of five eggs," he asked in a stunned and disapproving whisper. Mabel raised her beak and widened her smile of immense pride.
"Correct guess, Levi," said she proudly. A flash of even greater disgust tore through Lapis Lazuli and the other glaucous macaws excluding Trixie on the ground. Then Lapis stormed over to the tree's foot and began to ascend it. When she arrived at Levi's side in front of the hollow, Lapis Lazuli shot Mabel a furious look, her wings on her hips.
"Why did you come in here to lay that clutch of eggs then?" demanded she in a low growl.
"There's nowhere else to have that clutch," replied Mabel.
"Don't you DARE lie to us or fob us off with excuses, young lady," growled Levi in an even angrier voice.
"I'm NOT lying or making excuses," retorted Mabel, "this is a nice place and I just wanted to have me and my mate Robbie's next clutch of eggs in here, that's all."
Lapis Lazuli and Levi gazed in utter shock. Then Lapis Lazuli whirled round and was about to shout a command to Neytiri, Aiden and Tristan on the ground but Mabel interrupted by grabbing her wing.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm gonna get Tulio in here," snapped Lapis Lazuli in an angrier voice.
"Why do you wanna bring in Tulio?" asked Mabel.
"To remove you and those eggs from this chamber."
"You can't do that!"
"Yes I CAN and besides that, this place is strictly reserved for that GOLDEN FRUITHAWK since she's the last female AND individual of her species who is due to lay HER eggs!"
"Really? I thought there were two of those bizarre vegetarian birds of prey."
As Lapis Lazuli and Mabel continued to argue, Levi rolled his eyes and put a wing to his face and shook it.
"After all that devastation so many of their chicks have caused the rest of us," he grumbled to himself, "those toucans are insisting on having MORE of them!?"
Mabel continued pulling on Lapis Lazuli's wing to prevent her from shouting to her offspring and two in-laws to leave and summon Tulio. From under the bush, Gylfie peered out and shuddered at the sight of Mabel while Trixie, Sardonyx and Greg who were trying to feed her, gazed at the drama between the toucan intruder and the two glaucous macaws, Trixie and Tristan's parents, as it continued to unfold. Then Levi shot Mabel an outraged glare.
"Don't tell US you're planning on MOVING INTO HERE to have those EGGS, are YOU!?" snarled he. Mabel smiled and said, "My mate Robbie out in the main medical room suggested it to me."
"Oh, of course he did, and that sounded like a GREAT IDEA (!)" retorted Levi sarcastically.
"So that YOU can populate THIS habitat… meant for ENDANGERED SPECIES like GYLFIE… and LEAVE NO ROOM FOR THEM!" shouted Lapis Lazuli.
"Well, there's nowhere else on the sanctuary to live now, is there?" said a defiantly proud Mabel, "Since every single tree has pretty much gone up in flames, we plan on moving into every available space we can find in the humans' places, with this room being one of them, and Robbie and I plan on making it our home for our large family."
Shock came over Levi and Lapis Lazuli, as well as Trixie, Aiden, Tristan and Neytiri, but then anger erupted within them, especially the former, older two glaucous macaws.
"You're gonna move into…" began Levi but he realised he had already heard what had come out of Mabel's big, orange, prideful beak, "You mean you WANT TO MOVE INTO THIS ROOM!?"
Mabel maintained her proud smile as Levi swept on. "YOU and YOUR COUNTLESS SIBLINGS' CHICKS had ALREADY BURNED DOWN much of the SANCTUARY by MESSING ABOUT with THAT FIRE and NOW you DECIDE TO potentially DISPLACE EVERY CITY BIRD from their HOMES by POPULATING them with your HIGHLY UNDISCIPLINED, DELINQUENT CHICKS!?"
"Our chicks are NOT delinquent," snapped Mabel, "YOURS are."
When Neytiri heard this, she stepped forward to the foot of the tree, seething.
"All the other Blu Bird Sanctuary residents had EVACUATED to those trees OUTSIDE the sanctuary's boundaries because of YOU AND YOUR MISBEHAVING CHICKS!" she shouted.
"Not to mention cause competition for food and space," put in Tristan, Aiden looking on in angry agreement and saying nothing. Lapis Lazuli whirled round and shot the three at the foot of the tree a volcanically furious look.
"Look, Neytiri, Tristan, Aiden, can you GO AND GET TULIO in here THIS MINUTE!?" she bellowed, the result of the toucans' antics sending her over the edge and making it difficult for her to control her temper, making Neytiri, Aiden, and Tristan flinch. The trio timidly nodded, whirled round and scurried off for the door to get Tulio.
"We need a place to live, Levi and Lapis," continued Mabel, "And here is…"
However, Levi and Lapis Lazuli finally snapped; any attempts to control their anger were instantly vaporised and they both exploded like Eduardo or Felipe whenever they entered one of their volcanic tempers.
"Oh, SHUT UP!" screeched Levi, his wings on his head, making Mabel flinch, "SHUT… UP! SHUT UP about your STUPID CHICKS and your STUPID PLANS IN FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE!"
Then he entered a pause, and looked away, before glaring back at the defiant Mabel whose orange beak maintained its prideful smile. From under the bush, Gylfie, Sardonyx, Greg and Trixie continued to watch Levi and Lapis Lazuli finally go ballistic with Mabel.
"You KNOW WHAT!?" continued Levi at Mabel volcanically, "You REALLY HAVE gone and DONE IT THIS TIME!"
"Yes," put in Lapis Lazuli, "THIS is FINALLY the FINAL LEAF!"
Then Levi shoved his beak right into Mabel's face and looked her in the eye, "YOU are an INCREDIBLY STUPID, STUBBORN, SELFISH, SELF-CENTERED little BRAT…" Mabel's eyes only looked away proudly and pretended she hadn't heard as Levi continued yelling in her face, "and I agree with my daughter Trixie, YOU make us SICK TO THE STOMACH!"
Then Levi stormed off, fluttered from the branch and because his wings were still missing some of their flight feathers, he simply flapped down like a chicken and as soon as his talons made contact with the ground, he rushed off to see if Aiden, Tristan and Neytiri had alerted Tulio.
After he had gone, Lapis Lazuli decided to make a start and force Mabel to leave the artificial habitat chamber. Without hesitation, she seized Mabel by the shoulders and began to try and take her down from the hollow but Mabel launched into a bratty tantrum and began to ruthlessly fight back against Levi's mate's attempts to pull her from the hollow.
"LET GO OF ME!" snarled Mabel as Lapis tried to drag her away from the hollow, "I'm NOT GOIN' ANYWHERE!"
However, Lapis Lazuli refused to listen to Mabel's protests and continued to try and drag her from the hollow. Then from the bush, Greg and Sardonyx sprang into action. Exploding from the bush and leaving Trixie to look after the unnerved Gylfie, the parents of Steven and Kevin charged towards the brawling Lapis Lazuli and Mabel and as soon as Mabel had heftily shoved Lapis from the tree, Sardonyx rushed towards Mabel and tackled her square in the torso headfirst while Greg caught Lapis Lazuli before she could lose her balance and totter from the branch.
"Got you, Ma'am," said he as he caught the glaucous macaw in his talons. At the same time, Mabel flew past, careened out of the tree and plummeted into an artificially made pool with a mighty splash. Gylfie and Trixie flinched harshly as a fountain of water flew upward and rained down all around Mabel's impact point. Then Sardonyx whirled round, entered the hollow and seized the nest containing Mabel's five eggs just as Mabel struggled out of the pool but then the toucan's eyes found the scarlet macaw as she removed the nest containing her precious contents.
"HEY!" bellowed the toucan and with that, she clambered out of the pool and tried to take off after Sardonyx as she made off with the nest but due to her sopping wet feathers, she could not fly, but then she suddenly found herself cloaked in a shadow. The toucan examined the shadow's appearance and whirled round to face the owner. When she realised that it was a human, horror tore through her and she tried to back away but five glaucous macaws rushed in and blocked her way.
"You're NOT going ANYWHERE, Mabel," snarled Tristan as he, Levi, Neytiri, Trixie and Aiden formed a wall to block Mabel's escape route and then push her back towards the human. Mabel stumbled and landed on her back and only had enough time to look up at the human, which was one of Tulio's assistants, as she leaned over her with a square-shaped thing in her hands and before Mabel could act, she was encased in total darkness by the box.
Meanwhile
In the intensive care unit of Tulio's Aviary, Betelgeuse and Antares lay in special nests, the former with her talon and forehead bandaged. The two had a strange mask fixed over their beaks and hooking them up to two special machines called ventilators. A beeping noise sounded from two more machines as two sets of wires attached, via tiny special stickers, to Betelgeuse and Antares' tiny chests, hooking them to them and monitoring their heartrates. From the side of these two's nests, Spinel and Sheldon, together with Rigel who had just come out of being anesthetized for her operation to remove the wood shard from her shoulder which was now bandaged and was being held by Sheldon, having no need for ventilator assistance for she was not as affected as her brother and sister, gazed at the chicks as they continued to lay there, unconscious, hooked up to the ventilators. Ruby and Athos then came in.
"They're ever so tiny, aren't they?" asked Athos as he gazed at his granddaughter and grandson, "Not to mention incredibly vulnerable due to being chicks," a sigh left his beak, "It's hard to believe that they and their sister, and the rest of the kids, had to go through so much trauma over the past week or two."
"Betelgeuse has almost lost her life twice now," said a distraught Spinel, "First at the so-called Paradise Sanctuary place and now here with the fire thanks to those careless toucan chicks when they played with it, in addition to that BRAT Sofia and her comrades when they dropped her, Antares and Rigel through the canopy."
"She managed to escape getting eaten by those wildcats at the Paradise Sanctuary place; now she might not be so fortunate…" put in Sheldon as he gazed at his older daughter. Ruby then formed a smile and put a comforting wing around her older daughter and half-scarlet, half-green-winged son-in-law.
"Well, she and Antares are tough as a coconut shell," she said, "Just like their mother…" her loving gaze then turned to Athos, "and their maternal grandfather."
Athos managed a small smile in response to this compliment.
"Am I one, too?" asked Rigel in Sheldon's wings.
"Yes you are," replied Ruby, much to Rigel's small smile, the first one she had managed since the toucans' kidnap of her and the other kids of Carla, Bia, Tiago and the others. Then Spinel stood back with Sheldon who held Rigel in his wings.
"I just cannot believe those horrible toucans would put our most precious gemstones through such a series of hellish nightmares over the past week," growled Sheldon in disbelief, "First it was Sandalwood on that branch, then it was almost ALL of our kids getting kidnapped by those poachers to be given as collectors' items to that bunch of false conservationists running the 'Paradise Sanctuary' in Peru and now this with the fire…"
As he spoke, some wing-flaps alerted the family, prompting the five to look up. Augustus, Melissa, Stella, Soren and Sandalwood came in.
"Hiya," said Augustus as he and the other four flying foxes flew in and touched down by Athos and Ruby, Sandalwood flying by himself, much to the amazed joy of Sheldon, Spinel, Rigel, Athos and Ruby.
"How are Betelgeuse and Antares doing?" asked Melissa.
"They're still unconscious," said Ruby. Then Sandalwood gazed at the two in their nests with the pieces of machinery covering their beaks and chests, a sorrowful look on his face.
"I heard what happened," said he. His gaze then turned to Rigel, "And I see you've come round and had that piece of wood removed from your shoulder."
Rigel gazed at the bandage where the wood shard had been and smiled back at Sandalwood.
"Yes, the doctor said it would heal in a few weeks," she said.
"That's good," said Augustus with a smile, before his face fell as his gaze turned to Betelgeuse and Antares, "And I sure hope they make it as well."
"Apparently, smoke inhalation, as well as exhaustion and trauma, was what knocked them, and also Rigel, out," said Athos, "I just hope those two haven't suffered too much damage."
Stella was about to speak when suddenly, there was commotion and shouting outside the intensive care room, bringing the group's attention to the entrance.
"What in the world…" asked Athos. Then Melissa and Soren dropped from the worktop and flew over to the entrance where they peered around the frame.
"What's going on, you two?" asked Ruby.
"One of the toucans has been hiding in the manmade jungle chamber by the looks of it," said Melissa.
"And that toucan is viciously attacking the humans trying to remove her from the room…" said Soren. The two flying foxes then flinched when the toucan bit down on one of the human's hands, making her scream. Just in the doorway to the jungle room, a few familiar grey-headed blue forms stood, and Soren identified them as Levi and some of his relatives, and all of them wore volcanic looks on their faces. Then Sandalwood flitted in and joined his father and grandmother in watching the scuffle.
"Looks like Levi, Lapis Lazuli and I think Tristan, Neytiri, Trixie and Aiden as well have been in that room to help remove that toucan from there," Soren said.
While the scuffle was happening, a few more toucans had been examining a black slab Melissa and Soren had learned was called a laptop, on another table. Then what happened next sent shock tearing through the mate of Stella and Melissa's son-in-law. While Tulio and some of his assistants continued to struggle with the toucan (Mabel) that had been hiding in the artificial chamber, two or three of them receiving either a face full or armful of scratches and bites from the angry toucan, the toucans on the table glared at something on the laptop screen before moving to one side of it. Then as Soren, Sandalwood and Melissa watched; the toucans then pushed against the laptop and moved it towards the edge of the table. They continued pushing the laptop until most of its base was finally off the table's surface and beyond its edge. Then came a point where gravity finally took hold of the laptop and pulled it right down to the floor where it crashed in a small shower of sparks and broke like a stone tile into two pieces. As this happened, Tulio, his face marked with two sets of bleeding claw marks inflicted on him by Mabel, finally managed to help his assistants seize Mabel but then he realised that a laptop lay on the floor in two large pieces and in a few sparks. His temper flared when he saw this.
"WHO BROKE MY WIFE'S LAPTOP!?" he bellowed. In response to this, the toucan culprits threw on innocent smiles and directed the blame to a small group of birds nearest to them, which were Mumble, Roxanne the galah, and Ginny, JD, Atreyu and Balthazar. When they saw the toucans pin the blame on them, the penguins and galah let loose outraged squawks. Soren and Sandalwood shared an angry look, nodded and then fluttered from the doorway and charged in the direction of the shattered laptop and Tulio's group as they left to remove the still-screeching and restrained Mabel from the scene. Then the father and son touched down before Tulio and another assistant and by the shattered laptop, before pointing a wing-finger each at the TRUE culprits: the toucans that had shoved the laptop onto the floor to save Mumble and the others from potential and unnecessary trouble. Tulio's glare then turned to the small group of toucans and they flinched. They tried to convince Tulio that Mumble and his little group were responsible, much to their angrier squawks but Tulio wasn't convinced for he was very good at reading birds' body language and the mood in their squawking, besides identifying them by tasting their feathers. He then hardened his glare on the true culprits.
"That does it, you lot," he growled at the toucans with a point of his index finger shot at them like a laser, much to their horror and timidity, "Let's get you CAGED!"
The toucans flinched but then they found themselves on the receiving end of a smug glare from both Soren and Sandalwood as the pair continued to stand there by the laptop the toucans had damaged and nodded in agreement to Tulio's statement.
It appeared that even Tulio's team have reached the end of the branch regarding the badly behaved toucans' destructive antics.