Chapter 2- New Year celebrations part one and a problem with some certain birds
The nighttime cityscape of Rio de Janeiro was aglow with the artificial lights shining from its buildings and the semi-cloudy night air above it was alive with music and song as the human inhabitants danced, played instruments and partied. It was that time of year again: New Year's Eve and everyone was preparing for the climax of the celebrations at midnight, like they and many of the human cities and places around the world always did. In a certain area in the city, at the foot of the Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio's main landmark besides the Sugarloaf Mountain, a lake of colourful feathers splashed and danced about while the air above it was decorated with colourful comets. Amongst the lake and the comets were drabber colours from the lesser-colourful members of the community of the Rio rainforest and some of the city animals. The inhabitants of the Tujica Forest and Blu Bird Sanctuary, or a lot of them, were dancing away to the music and celebrations like the humans up and down the rest of the city, and this time, they were accompanied by non-avian friends both from the city and the forest, with the exception of the cats due to their natural issues with birds except for those who could control this instinctive predatory nature, such as Broccoli and his sisters.
Among the crowd of dancing animals at the foot of the Christ the Redeemer statue were Carla and company and they were accompanied by their city friends Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Clemont and Serena the cockatoos, their greyhound friends such as James, one of the first-litter sons of the late Dash and Ginger and his mate Ebony who were now proud parents of a litter of puppies; Broccoli, one of the sons of the late Veggie and Catina, the old cat friends of Carla and company and one of the few cats who was allowed to dance with the birds due to his friendliness with them, and the Control de Pragas Squad, among them Orion, his merlin mate Hermione, sister Velocity and younger brother Spike, and Velocity's mate Riker. The mixed animal crowd was dancing to the song 'What is Love', the same song Blu and Jewel danced to years ago with their friends including Luiz the bulldog, Rafael, Eva, Nico and Pedro when Carla, Bia and Tiago had been chicks along with Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil and the rest of the first-brood offspring of Athos and company. However, that was years ago. Now, things were largely different. Firstly, Nico, Pedro, Sparkle and Rose were no longer around, having passed away from old age, leaving behind a few chicks who grew up and took over their business in running their parents' birds' club, though this massive dance was operated by Carla, Justin, James, Ebony and Lillie, Diantha's daughter who had taken a liking in organising clubs and dances. Around the dancing animals were slivers of colourful paper called confetti which rained down onto the dancefloor. Also around the dancefloor, streams of lights from massive torches slashed the dark air apart and aimed at the sky, forming a pool of light on the partly clouded night sky while few colourful, thinner slashes of light, lasers, penetrated the dark air as well, and some of the partiers played various instruments such as drums made from collected human objects like metal cans. Things were indeed merry for the partiers as they celebrated New Year's Eve.
In a certain area of the dancefloor, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil and company danced, the macaws and other animals dancing with their respective mates and partners. Carla danced with Justin, Bia with Virgil, Tiago with Matilda and Charlotte with her mate Músculo. Jasmine also danced with Finn, Alexandre danced with Estelle, and his sisters Spinel and Poinsettia also danced with their respective mates Sheldon and Wilbur, as were Petunia and Chlorophyll and their respective mates Benjamin and Ashley. Indigo and Victor, and Zebedee and Iris also danced together, as did Trixie and Aiden, and Tristan and Neytiri, and the blue-throated macaw friends of the group, Ariel and Eric. With Carla and company also were Stella, Soren, Sebastian, Anabelle and Luna the flying foxes as they also danced either in the air or on the ground, the first four dancing together. However, Carla and company were not alone. Their grown-up offspring were also present for they were old enough to attend these late-night dances, and many of them were dancing with dancefloor dates.
As the couples danced, Spinel and Sheldon left the main dancefloor to the sidelines for a break.
"Boy, it sure is one of the best nights ever, my lovely pink-scarlet ruby," said Sheldon as he gazed lovingly into his mate's amber eyes.
"Why shouldn't it be, my half-scarlet, half-green-winged love hawk?" cooed Spinel in reply, "I sure hope the coming year will be a good one."
Then a thought appeared in Sheldon's mind and his face fell.
"I hope so as well, my dear Spinel," he replied, "But I'm getting pretty worried for our two daughters Betelgeuse and Rigel and son Antares."
Spinel tipped her head to one side in confusion and asked, "What about them?"
"Well, I'm very wary of them hanging out with other birds and animals their age, especially after what happened four years ago with the fire thanks to those toucans," said Sheldon. Then a frown formed on his face. "I hope those three, especially Antares, aren't falling in with the wrong crowd because the last thing I want is those three getting into all kinds of trouble, such as trying silly makeup in our daughters' case, and possibly..."
"Relax, dear," said Spinel before her half-green-winged mate could allow his worry to erupt into frustration at these unlikely possibilities, knowing that Betelgeuse, Antares and Rigel had enough sense, "You're being melodramatic. And besides that, our two girls and boy aren't gonna be our little chicks any longer. They are adolescents now and must be allowed some independence. Eventually, the time will come for them to leave the nest."
"I know," said Sheldon sadly, "And that is very disheartening, and I'm especially worried for Betelgeuse with her single foot and the scar on her face."
Spinel gently put a wingtip to Sheldon's beak and moved his line of gaze directly into hers. "Remember what I told you about what my father Athos told me, my sister and brother just as we were approaching the time to leave the nest," she said, "There will come a time when our daughters and son will do just the same, as mentioned before. And regarding Betelgeuse and her single foot and scar on her face, she's managed to adapt to life living with just one talon, I think."
Sheldon breathed a sigh and nodded in agreement. However, worries for his three chicks continued to bubble within him. Just then, Stella and Soran came by. Their mammalian faces were saturated with cheerfulness and they gazed at the scarlet and ruby (scarlet/green-winged hybrid) couple.
"Hey, Spinel and Sheldon, happy New Year," said Stella, "I guess you're looking forward to facing the coming year with all its challenges, am I right?"
"Yes, alongside the frequent demands of independence from our daughters Betelgeuse and Rigel, and son Antares," said Spinel, "Rigel and Antares already have a date each but Betelgeuse is still unsure about dating..."
"And I reckon your son Sandalwood and his grey-headed mate Connie are doing fine, aren't they?" asked Sheldon.
"Oh yes, they are," said Soren, his green-eyed gaze on his albino mate, her white fur and greyish-white wings flashing brilliantly in the lights, "and so is our daughter Rutile, and our nephew Ferdinand and niece Acerola, the son and daughter of Anabelle and Sebastian, Stella's brother, but Sandalwood especially."
"I cannot believe how much he has changed in personality since he was a pup. I mean he used to be a shy and timid pup but look at him now," said Spinel. Stella and Soren gazed at the scarlet macaw in agreement. Four years ago, Sandalwood had used to be a very shy pup who was quite withdrawn at times, but his timidity had been amplified after an incident at the clutches of a flock of careless toucan chicks that had rendered him afraid of hsevens and flying, but after the adventures he and a number of other kids, among them Sirius, one of Bia and Virgil's sons and Bellatrix, Tiago and Matilda's daughter, had been through at the fraudulent Paradise Sanctuary, Sandalwood's personality had underwent a drastic transformation and he had grown more confident, even learning to overcome his own fear of flying on his own with Connie's help during the fire of the Blu Bird Sanctuary. The story eerily paralleled that of Blu and Jewel and the part where Jewel ended up with an injured wing thanks to the wicked cockatoo Nigel, and with Blu falling out of the plane to save her and learning to fly thanks to Jewel's kiss was remarkably similar to that of Sandalwood and Connie. Like Jewel, Connie had been injured with a broken wing by the wicked Dalek, and Sandalwood, much like Blu, had dropped off the branch to save her and after receiving a kiss from Connie he had managed to learn to fly again. It was from that incident that Connie had decided to become Sandalwood's other half and the pair had been dating from then until now in which they were finally mates and ready to have their own pups. But while that couple had had a jubilant and triumphant event resulting in a relationship blossoming between the two, a few of the other second-generation offspring had suffered not-so-happy results from the events of the Blu Bird Sanctuary's fire, and the majority of those results were due to the selfish and carless acts of the wicked toucans.
Betelgeuse, Sheldon and Spinel's oldest daughter and chick, had suffered the loss of the left talon and a scar above her left eye due to them getting severely burned during her, Rigel and Antares' escape in the fire on foot. The two sisters and brother had been left to navigate the fiery forest on the forest floor by Sofia and her gang and because the three could not fly due to individual circumstances that prevented them from doing so (such as Betelgeuse with a tattered wing, Antares with a badly sprained wing and Rigel with an injury), they had to do this on foot. As a result, all three of them had suffered traumatic damage from the fire and it was borderline miraculous that all three had survived the ordeal, but Betelgeuse had ended up paying the biggest price through the amputation of her left talon. Since then, the little three-quarter-scarlet, one-quarter-green-winged macaw had to grow up and adapt to living with just one foot, in addition to the scar on her face where feathers had failed to grow as a result of a severe burn there, and though she had had massive support from her parents, sister, brother and extended family including Eustace, one of the cockatoos who also lost a foot due to the Battle for the Sanctuary, Betelgeuse's self-esteem had been badly affected and she was still self-conscious of her single foot and face. Furthermore, Sheldon and at times Spinel had been overprotective of their daughters and son, as had the majority of the other couples of Carla and company's group, including Stella and Soren with their son Sandalwood and daughter Rutile when she was eventually born, and the remnants of the Blu Bird Sanctuary fire was still present in some of the other second-generation offspring such as Benjamin and Petunia's son Aldebaran's fear of water and Sebastian and Anabelle's daughter Acerola's claustrophobia. However, despite the fact that the couples had been overprotective of their offspring due to the events of the previous story, not only from the fire but the poaching as well, Carla and company knew that there will come a time when their offspring will eventually leave the nest and start their independent lives.
While worries for Antares, Betelgeuse and Rigel continued to churn in Sheldon's mind, somewhere else in the dancing crowd, a certain flying fox and his grey-headed mate was dancing.
"Hey, Sandalwood, would you like to sing a verse to the song?" called a voice, Ashley as she played the drums with Chlorophyll in the instrument compartment, the couple just starting on this to take a break from dancing. The amber-coloured flying fox, Sandalwood snapped his gaze from a certain grey-headed flying fox to the great green/military couple.
"Sorry, what was that?" he asked.
"Ashley asked if you wanted to sing the next verse of the song 'What is Love', Sandy," said the grey-headed flying fox, Connie with an amused smile. Sandalwood turned back to his mate and began to awkwardly sing the next verse, dozens and dozens of eyes from the other dancers, among them Sirius, Bellatrix and Spica, some of the offspring of the Spix macaws of Carla's group who had partnered with a few other Spix macaws as dancefloor dates, gazing at the flying fox couple, smiles on the beaks accompanying them.
"What's a... song if... you can't hear it too?" sung Sandalwood, starting the verse a bit uneasily while dancing with Connie. Connie then sung the next verse, her voice sounding somewhat silvery though not as silvery as Spix macaw Lavender's voice.
"Can't imagine dancing without you," she cooed, her loving eyes fixated on Sandalwood's green pair.
Sandalwood: A shooting star's not really much to see
Connie: if you're not right here standing next to me
After singing this line, Connie placed a brief kiss on Sandalwood's muzzle. Nearby, Sirius, Bellatrix and Spica continued to dance with their dates, along with some of their other 'second cousins' such as Cytosine, Thymine, Guanine and Adenine as they danced with macaw dates of their choice, and also Acerola, one of Sandalwood and Rutile's cousins, the daughter of Sebastian and Anabelle and Ferdinand's older brother who danced with a male flying fox. However, she had not yet paired up with a mate unlike Sandalwood and Connie and wanted to wait a bit until the right male flying fox came long. This same decision was made by Ferdinand and also Rutile despite them being young adult bats now. Not too far away from Acerola and her date, some more of Carla and company's group members, Poinsettia and Wilbur, the parents of Adenine and his siblings, Sebastian and Anabelle and Spyro and Marella the archaeobirds danced, many of them singing the next set of lines of the song.
Partiers: Oh-oh-ooooooh... listen to me darling, I wake up every morning thinking about the way you feel...
During this line, Spyro and Marella danced by with the latter holding the former as she arched her back and stretched her wings before finally looking up and gazing lovingly into her mate's eyes.
Partiers: Oh-oh-oooooh... I wonder if you know it, and what good is the party if you're not around?
Alexandre and Estelle then did a tango-style dance together. As they did, Alexandre flashed a glance at a certain part of the crowd and picked out his son Sol as he danced with a female scarlet macaw teen. Nearby, Celeste, Castor and Pollux, the offspring of Zebedee and Iris, and their cousin Roxanne, Indigo and Victor's daughter, played on the drums and other instruments. Estelle then smiled at her mate. Like everyone else in Carla's group, they could not believe how fast their son had grown.
"Sol certainly ain't our little boy anymore, is he, my lovely?" said Alexandre.
"Nope," said Estelle, "Soon, he and his cousins will eventually leave the nest."
"I'm so glad he didn't have to go through all the horrors of the events of four years ago, except when he was almost caught by a group of poachers who we found out worked for this fraudulent conservation place in Peru," said Alexandre with a scowl. Estelle nodded in agreement. Thankfully, Sol had been rescued from that group in time and Alexandre and Eselle had lured that group of poachers into getting caught by the human security patrollers who then took them for questioning.
As Alexandre and Estelle continued dancing, a certain pair of larger navy blue macaws came by. The male had a bandana covering his left facial side and eye while the female was an unusual purple macaw with a three-point crest reminiscent of a certain flower, and a few scars on her chest, a few souvenirs she had sustained from her time as a pet at the hands of some abusive humans.
"Hey, you two, looking forward to the New Year?" said the male, pulling the full scarlet couple's attention to him and his mate.
"We certainly are, Zebedee and Iris, yes," said Alexandre.
"So is everyone else and our human friends, pretty much," added Estelle. She then turned her attention to three certain young hyacinth macaws in the crowd of dancing birds, "And I can see that your two daughters and son over there are doing well as well. They're enjoying playing the instruments."
"Celeste, Castor and Pollux, you mean?" said Iris, "Indeed they are."
"So have the rest of our offspring," said Spyro as he danced with Marella, their metallic feathers glinting beautifully and like polished gemstones and baubles in the party lights, especially on their tail feathers as their moveable tails moved up and down and fanned the air with those feathers. Because the archaeobirds resembled their extinct counterparts such as Microraptor so strongly with their feathered legs and long tails ending in the fan of tail flight feathers, and their feet bearing one sickle claw-like talon curving upward, these creatures had been dubbed 'living fossils', along with the pterosaurs, or bat-birds. The archaeobirds had an odd accent, but they still spoke a variety of languages like English, without too much distortion in the words. Marella then examined Bambi as he danced with some of the other archaeobirds.
"It's hard to believe that our son is now four years old and, like so many others of our offspring not far from moving into independence now," she said in an edgy voice, "I still remember our Bambi being a chick like it was yesterday."
"Time flies, Marella, I guess," said Spyro with a smile.
"Our younger siblings, the second-brood chicks of our parents, such as my and Indigo's sister, Violet, had grown, with many of them now young adults as well," said Zebedee, his wing sometimes going to the bandana to shift it back into place to conceal an unsightly mess he had acquired from a certain event years ago, including his damaged left eye which was nothing more than a clouded, non-functioning eyeball, "though a few of them such as Violet are still not yet mature, yet."
The others nodded in agreement. Just then a thought appeared in Estelle's head.
"Oh, guys, the five young golden fruithawks and two young white-and-silver owls, I forgot about them!" she said, "How are those seven doing? I hope they are staying out of trouble."
"They're currently under the watchful eye of Broccoli and several other sitters," said Alexandre, "Among them Vulcan the kestrel."
"Well I hope they are keeping a good eye on them," said Zebedee sternly, "Because you know what they are sometimes like and what trouble they sometimes got up to as our offspring was growing up."
"I remember one of them getting badly hurt, alongside several other birds and animals including Sardonyx, Greg's mate and Steven and Kevin's mother, Cometa and Lightning's son Spike, and Blu and Jewel's son Luke and adopted son Eddie, thanks to that HORRID cockatoo Nigel after some of us stupidly nursed him back to health in the vain hope that the cockatoo would abandon his hatred towards birds like us," said Iris seriously, referring to Annette, Miranda, Cinnabar, Larimar and Quincy, all of who were still back in the Amazon rainforest and had made a seriously wrong decision, "we had to let Blu and Jewel kill him in the end as it was clear that he was not going to change his ways."
Spyro, Marella, Estelle, Alexandre and Zebedee nodded in agreement. Just then the sounds of frantic wing flaps alerted the group, reaching the ears of Spyro and Marella for the two archaeobirds had quite acute hearing. The couple flashed the first four a worried look.
"I don't like the sound of that, folks," said Spyro, and this was confirmed when a voice which was saturated with the same mood as the wing flaps, erupted.
"GUYS!" it called. The six, along with a number more nearby, stopped talking and dancing and converged their gazes on the newcomer, a peregrine falcon, as he crash-landed into a clearing much to their alarm. After rising to his feet, the peregrine falcon shot the couples an alarmed gaze.
"What's the problem, Spike?" asked Alexandre. The peregrine falcon, who was Spike, Lightning and Cometa's third chick and second son and who was now an adult like his older siblings Orion and Velocity, then spoke but nothing could prepare the archaeoboird, hyacinth and scarlet macaw couples, and the others who walked in upon seeing the panic-stricken peregrine falcon, among them Carla, Bia, Tiago, Charlotte and their respective mates Justin, Virgil, Matilda and Músculo, for wat he said next.
"It's the five golden fruithawks and the two white-and-silver owls, and they're handling the FIREWORKS AND MATCHES!" Spike managed to force out. Immense alarm tore through the listeners, and Diantha flinched violently. From some other areas of the crowd, the majority of the second-generation offspring gazed at the commotion. Arcturus, one of the grandsons of Lapis Lazuli and Levi and Trixie and Aiden's son, was the first to speak.
"That doesn't sound good, guys," he worriedly told the others as they also converged their gazes on the scene.
"Take us there RIGHT AWAY, SPIKE!" yelled Carla. Spike nodded, turned tail sand lofted into flight. Then dozens more pairs of wings darted out and lofted their owners into flight as the macaws, along with Stella, Luna, Sebastian, Anabelle and Soren who dropped from an elevation and caught air with their membranous wings, then rushed after the peregrine falcon.
"Look after our children while we deal with this dangerous problem, won't you Diantha, Eustace, Milo, Rosa, Clemont and Serena," yelled Bia as she flew with the others. Diantha and the cockatoos including the grown-up offspring of four of them; Yolanda and Vincent (Eustace and Serena's offspring), and Peach (Clemont and Rosa's daughter) all nodded. Sirius then lofted into flight and tried to follow the disappearing group, his brothers, Einstein and Miles just behind him.
"Can we come, Mom, Dad, aunts, uncles?" he called.
"No, Sirius, you stay behind with your brothers and everyone else," replied Virgil in a serious voice.
"Yes, this is a VERY dangerous situation," added Soren. Then Poinsettia and Wilbur appeared and ordered the adolescent Spix macaw brothers back to the crowd as Carla, Bia and Tiago's group disappeared after Spike. Spyro and Marella on their bat-birds also followed Carla's group.
"It's NOT FAIR," growled Miles disgruntled, "We're not little boys anymore."
"Look, while it's true you're adolescents, boys," said Wilbur firmly, "We're NOT gonna have YOU lot ANYWHERE near those fire things."
"Yes, remember how the fire of the Blu Bird Sanctuary got its start," put in Poinsettia, "And what Andromeda and Eragon and the other archaeobirds told us about messing with the force."
Sirius, Einstein and Miles just breathed huffing sighs and returned to the crowd of dancing birds and animals, many of who were flashing looks of concern. Among those doing this were Rigel, Antares and Betelgeuse and they shuddered violently, Betelgeuse gazing down at her toeless left talon and feeling the featherless scar patch above her left eye with her wing.
"I hope those fruithawks and owls aren't gonna start a fire," whimpered she worriedly. Then Eustace appeared.
"Look, your parents and 'aunts' and 'uncles', especially Spyro and Marella, know what they are doing," said the older son of Travis and Sunset firmly, "Just leave it to them, okay."
As he said this, Diantha walked in, a frown on her face.
"And I thought Broccoli, Daisy, Collette, Vulcan and Roxanne the galah had those seven under control as well," the toco/keel-billed hybrid toucan and daughter of Rafael and Eva said seriously, "I mean they are excellent babysitters but..."
"I think those seven fruithawks and owls may have found a way to sneak out of their confines, figuratively speaking, Diantha," said Eustace. Betelgeuse, Antares and Rigel just looked on and said nothing. The other second-generation offspring and their partners, among them Sandalwood and Connie, also put on worried faces.
Meanwhile
"You seven SERIOUSLY need to learn to obey your elders, ESPECIALLY in regards to handling dangerous things like PYROTECHNICS such as MATCHES AND FIREWORKS, fruithawks and owls!" bellowed Broccoli, his paws tied together and himself tied to a pole with some skipping rope, along with four other sitters, his caliby (calco/tabby mix) sisters Collette and Daisy, Roxanne the galah and Vulcan the kestrel from the Control de Pragas Squad. These four also wore thunderous faces as they glared at a group of seven birds, five metallic gold and yellow birds of prey with orange beaks and feet and two white owls with silver wing and tail flight feathers, rims around their faces and specks on their fronts as they examined the row of rockets erected in the dirt, ready to be ignited and sent into the sky. Though the fruithawks were hawks and had the characteristic lethal-looking claws and hooked beaks, they did not use these feeding tools to butcher the meat of animals. Instead, these tools were used for butchering the flesh of plants and fruit, hence the name fruithawk. The silver-and-white owls, however, were omnivorous, having a diet consisting of both animal and plant flesh. The names of the five fruithawks were, in birth order, Ganymede, Gardenia, Samara, Gylfie and Comet with the first and last being male and the middle three, female. The names of the two owls were Aragorn and Raya with the former being male and the latter, female.
The five fruithawks who were two brothers and three sisters had beautifully shining golden body plumage and yellow heads and necks with a spot of gold on their cheeks, and the sisters were larger than the brothers. Their beaks were orange with a black tip and their feet and talons were also orange. However, their eye colours and crests were different. Ganymede had sea-green eyes and a flick of feathers on his head, Gardenia had blue eyes and a short ponytail on her head like Polaris, the daughter of Finnick and Kira, Samara had dark blue eyes and a crest like Bia, a sheet of feathers pointing straight down at the back, Gylfie's eyes were teal like Jewel's and her crest was a set of spiky feathers sticking up from her crown, and Comet's eyes were green and his crest was a sheet atop his head. The five siblings' mother Gylfie whom the fourth fruithawk chick was named after, had blue eyes while their father, Aurum had sea-green eyes, so the eye colour of all seven of them were associated with those of their parents. The white-and-silver owls who were a clutch of two siblings, Aragorn and Raya, had pure white plumage and shiny silver wing and tail flight feathers, flecks of silver on their bellies and a silver rim around their faces. Their beaks and feet were grey coloured and they sported flicks of feathers on their heads, also tipped silver, like a pair of ears. Raya, despite being the younger of the two, was larger than her brother for the females of most owl species were larger than the males. Neither owl had any other crest but their speck patterns and eye colours were different. Aragorn sported a silvery 'V' mark on his chest and had bright green eyes, while Raya had a silver blotch on her chest and blue eyes. Unlike the five fruithawks whose mother had passed away shortly after laying their eggs, the two owls' parents had already perished in the fire on the Blu Bird Sanctuary, their eggs miraculously surviving that blaze and salvaged just in time by a group of ornithologists and brought to Tulio's Aviary for incubation. However, the two owls were orphans like the five fruithawks.
"Carla and company are HONESTLY gonna go BERSERK when they see this," snarled Collette, she and Daisy struggling side by side in the binds. The seven fruithawks and owls, however, did not listen to their sitters and continued examining the row of erected firework rockets and admiring their work. Nearby, one of the fruithawks, Gylfie, held a little box containing some sticks tipped with a red bulge and a little rough strip on the side.
"So, how do you want the fireworks to soar into the sky, sibs and owls?" asked Ganymede. Gardenia walked in and pointed to the first firework in the row.
"Well, bro, I'd like the fireworks to be launched into the air one after the other in THAT order," she said, her golden wing flight feather skimming from the first firework down the line to the last. Raya, one of the owls, shook her head in disagreement.
"No, I would like the middle fireworks to be lit first," she said, her silver wing feathers pointing to the rockets positioned in the centre of the line before diverging to the ends, "and then the lighting to move from the centre towards the ends so that we can get a wave of rockets flying into the sky."
"Maybe we could have both?" asked Aragorn.
"We can only have one or the other as there is only one line," said Comet. Samara then extended a wing.
"While I'm in for the line of rockets getting lit starting from the middle and then moving to the ends," she said. Gylfie stepped in and also extended a wing over their sister's. Raya and Aragorn did the same.
"Well, I particularly like the middle-starting idea as well," said Comet, "I think the outcome would be more spectacular than the one-end-to-the-other method, so I'm in for the middle rockets to be lit first," and with that, he extended his wing to the agreement pile, before Ganymede came in and did the same. Gardenia was hesitant but seeing that the other six had already agreed on the middle fireworks being lit first, she admitted defeat and extended a wing to the agreement pile as well. As the seven precious birds then bobbed their agreement pile and raised their wings in it into the air to show that they were ready to go with the plan, Broccoli, Collette, Daisy, Roxanne and Vulcan looked on with infuriated eyes.
"Haven't you seven seriously forgotten how the Blu Bird Sanctuary fire got its start?" yelled Vulcan as he watched Gylfie and Aragorn seize the box of matches, "That fire was spread through the forest by a bunch of STUPID toucan chicks who played with the flames and kindled the surrounding trees with it."
"And many of them got burned and died as a result," put in Roxanne, her pale pink crest raised.
"Ganymede, YOU PUT THAT MATCH DOWN THIS MINUTE!" screeched Collette as she watched the oldest of the five fruithawk siblings take out a red-tipped stick and prepare to strike it on the rough side to get a flame. Daisy then tried to struggle in the binds but could not free a paw. As Collette spoke, Ganymede gazed at the caliby.
"We're only gonna ignite those rockets, Miss Collette," said the fruithawk, "Don't worry, we're not gonna go flying around with these matches on fire like how those toucan chicks you told us about did in the forest."
"Yeah, but you could still get burned," retorted Broccoli, "Please, do as your sitters say and PUT THAT BOX OF MATCHES DOWN! They are NOT for young birds such as YOU LOT to handle."
Ganymede ignored the tabby cat and Veggie lookalike and swiped the match's head on the rough strip on the matchbox several times until finally, the red bulb on the end of the stick flared to life with a flame. He then handed it to Aragorn who then immediately went to the middle of the row of fireworks, poised to light the fuse of one of them. Ganymede then worked to strike another match but this time, he struggled to get a flame.
"Oh, come on, you stupid match, strike a light will you?" hissed the gold and yellow fruit-eating hawk, Raya waiting impatiently nearby to receive the lit match and join her brother. Though the seven fruithawks and owls were NOT as naughty as the majority of the toucans had been, they were still sometimes very reckless. They were also already aware of the dangers of fire and fire starting materials like matches, but they had wanted to be in charge of the fireworks despite their sitters' objections. Suddenly, the sounds of dozens of wing-flaps reached the group's ears. Comet snapped his gaze from Ganymede as he struggled to light the second match to a flock of flying animals rushing towards them. Most of the animals were macaws while the one at the front was a falcon. When Aragorn saw them, he immediately blew out the match and hid the black headed stick, a thread of smoke rising from it, behind his back. However, within seconds, the five fruithawks and two owls were set upon by a flock of colourful feathers with a few spots of drab fur and membranous wings amongst the cloud. Carla seized Ganymede while Justin seized the box of matches in Gylfie's wing and yanked it clean from her grasp. Alexandre and Estelle made a beeline for Aragorn and seized him, Estelle seizing the burnt out match and tore it from his wing in the process. At the same time, the rest of the group which included Bia, Virgil, Tiago, Matilda, Stella, Soren, Luna, Sebastian and Anabelle, seized the other five and dragged them away from the row of fireworks, Spyro and Marella rushing in to help.
"Busted," said Comet as he was restrained by Tiago while Matilda had Gardenia in her clutches and the other five were held by some of the other new arrivals which were Carla and company.
"What in the WORLD are you SEVEN DOING HANDLING THE MATCHES and the FIREWORKS, you BRAINLESS BIRDS!" bellowed Carla as she held the box of matches out of the fruithawks and owls' reach.
"You should KNOW FULL WELL that handling PYROTECHNICS when you're NOT experienced with them is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!" added Justin. As he spoke, Spike, the peregrine falcon who had brought in the group, helped Zebedee, Iris, Indigo and Victor to free Broccoli, Collette, Daisy, Vulcan and Roxanne from their skipping-rope binds. As Broccoli broke free, he gazed at the looks of thunder plastered on the newcomers' faces.
"We are ever so sorry, you lot," said the cat with shame, "We did try telling the seven fruithawks and owls not to handle those matches and fireworks but they just tied us up and turned a deaf ear to our commands..."
"Maybe you should have enlisted the help of more sitters, Broc," said Finnick as he, Lavender and Felix and their respective mates Kira, Garrett and Turquesa helped to restrain the fruithawks and owls. Roxanne then gazed at the three cats and Vulcan.
"I think we should have enlisted the help of Orion, Velocity, Hermione and Riker to sit those seven precious birds, folks," said the galah shamefully, "But they are quite busy with other things with their grown-up offspring Hunter, Eris and Zelda during the New Year celebrations..."
As she spoke, the sounds of wing flaps alerted her and the other four, pulling their attention to more arrivals which was a group of falcons, one of them being a merlin and the other two, merlin/peregrine falcon hybrids. As Orion, Velocity, Hermione and Riker entered the scene with their three matured offspring, Hunter, Eris and Zelda. Much like flying foxes, peregrine falcons and half-peregrines had an earlier maturation age than most macaw species, around three years of age so like Sandalwood, Rutile, Connie, Acerola and Ferdinand, Hunter, Eris and Zelda were already adults though they had chosen to stick with their parents until they were ready to be completely independent. Zelda was a full-blood peregrine due to her parents, Velocity and her first mate, Merlin, being peregrines but Hunter and Eris were half-peregrine and half-merlin due to their father Orion being a peregrine and their mother Hermione, a merlin. The two hybrid siblings were sometimes called 'perlins' and had the grey back of a peregrine but their underside was splattered with a dark brown which they had got from their mother. Both siblings also had the unique 'Belt and Sword' mark on their bellies like their father Orion thus Hunter received his name (also partially from his deceased brother who died due to the toucans' antics), but Eris was named after a dwarf planet. As the seven birds of prey touched down before the commotion, their eyes were saturated with shock.
"Um, sorry about this, Orion, falcons," said Kira sheepishly, "But we're trying to deal with a serious issue here."
"Then what are those five fruithawks and two doing near those fireworks?" asked Orion as his gaze moved from the seven gold, yellow, orange, white and silver birds to the row of rockets.
"Those VALUABLE vegetarian hawks and omnivorous owls should NEVER, EVER be ANYWHERE near those DANGEROUS DEVICES," shouted Velocity. Hermione and Riker glared at the group but said nothing while Hunter, Eris and Zelda wore especially shocked looks. Carla and company didn't reply. Pulling the seven fruithawks and owls away from the fireworks and freeing the caliby sisters of Broccoli, Vulcan and Roxanne from the skipping-rope binds; the group of macaws, flying foxes and archaeobirds, along with Spike, continued sorting the mess out. Then as soon as everything had been straightened, Carla began to give the seven fruithawks and owls a serious lecture.
"This is the UMPTEENTH time that you seven have risked your safety by handling those fireworks and matches without our permission," growled Carla as she rebuked the seven ashamed fruithawks and owls, "Honestly, you could have been SERIOUSLY HURT!"
"But we are aware of the dangers of fireworks and matches, Mrs Carla," said Ganymede but Bia shook her head.
"That's NOT an excuse, Ganymede," snapped Carla's sister, "You should NOT even lay a single WING FEATHER on those highly dangerous devices."
"You remember how I and my sisters stupidly risked our safety by handling fireworks when we were chicks but back then we didn't know better," said Tiago, "Now after experiencing how destructive fire and fire-based devices like matches, cigarette lighters and fireworks can be, we have learned a VERY IMPORTANT lesson about the dangers of that force."
"But Mr Spyro and Mrs Marella's son Bambi knows how to handle fire at a young age," said Aragorn, his gaze on Spyro and Marella in the crowd of displeased animals, "How is it that we can't handle fire?"
"It is because our archaeobird clan have learned how to handle it safely and are EXTREMELY careful to teach our chicks of its dangers, young owl, since using fire is a part of our clan's way of life," said Spyro sternly, "Chicks are too young to handle it and are thus only told about it but when they become teens, they undergo a VERY careful practical introduction of it. We use fire for our dances sometimes, to cremate our deceased clan members, to cook certain snacks, for warmth, and in EXTREMELY rare cases, for defence such as against those colony flying foxes that threatened the Sanctuary de Amazon."
"It was a good thing you knew how to use fire as a defence weapon in cases like those, Spyro," said Sebastian as he stood with Stella, Luna, Anabelle and Soren, "Our then colony-mates had an EXTREME hatred of it."
"It had been controversial, I know and even Eragon and Andromeda knew, but it was a last resort," said Marella, before her glare returned to the seven fruithawks and owls and they flinched, "But that's another topic for another discussion. Right now, we need to really get this into those seven brainless birds' heads."
The seven fruithawks and owls flinched again as Carla prepared to explain the biggest reason why they should NEVER handle pyrotechnics alone, and it is not just the dangers associated with them that was important.
"Listen, the seven of you," said the oldest daughter of Blu and Jewel, "You are the LAST FIVE golden fruithawks and TWO white-and-silver owls alive on the planet so it is VITALLY IMPORTANT that you all stay away from ANYTHING and ANYONE dangerous."
"Does that mean we should be watched ALL the time?" replied Gardenia.
"Well, we don't mean that but..." began Bia but the seven fruithawks and owls erupted into a disgruntled moan.
"But it's not FAIR!" cried Ganymede.
"We ALWAYS have SOMEONE watching us EVERYWHERE WE GO and WHATEVER WE DO!" muttered Comet. Gylfie, Samara, Gardenia, Aragorn and Raya also voiced their anger and disgruntle at being watched all the time in agreement. Orion then came forward and called for silence from the seven fruithawk adolescents, abruptly ending the moaning.
"Listen, you seven," said the peregrine falcon, "Don't you guys remember what happened the last time you almost wandered into danger thanks to that infamous bird-killing vulture-too called Nigel after a few of us nursed him back to health?"
And with that, he shot Alexandre and Estelle a glare and they flinched, remembering when Annette, Miranda, Cinnabar, Larimar and Quincy, who deeply regretted the decision even now and because Cinnabar was one of the former's brothers, remembering that incident.
"That cockatoo set up a trap so that some of his most HATED creatures on the planet, particularly some Spix macaws would be caught and killed," explained Hermione, "Which unfortunately was the case for one of them, Carla and her siblings' adopted brother Eddie."
"And our younger biological brother Luke ended up having his wing amputated but that was not all," said Carla. Ganymede and his seven siblings then began to listen as Bia launched into an explanation of Nigel's last stand and time in getting revenge on his most detested birds after he had been nursed back to health.