Chapter 5- troublesome toucans
Meanwhile
Somewhere else in Rio, close to a footpath (also called a sidewalk in the Americas) that led tourists and birdwatchers into the Blu Bird Sanctuary like a nature path, a certain flightless parrot hid in the bushes along the border, being careful not to rouse any attention from any passing humans. In the above canopy, monkeys swung and leaped between branches while colourful feathered forms, some of the birds of the sanctuary, flew past. The parrot, which was male and which had bedraggled white-grey feathers, a pale yellow tatty crest, brown eyes with red bags under them and tiger-stripe like scars above his eyes, and a green and yellow vest glared disdainfully upward at these passing birds, some of them parrots. Clutching to his cheek was a fuchsia pink and dark red frog with big green eyes and eyelash-like protrusions from its upper eyelids. This little frog was a female and she was besotted with the parrot.
"Ugh, I wish I could spread my wings an' fly again like those loathsome colourful feathered maggots up there," the parrot, a cockatoo, grumbled with a burning jealousy as intense as his rancour for those birds, or anything that flew for that matter now, including a certain type of mammal with large webbed hands it used as wings, "When I find that VILE, good-for-nothing blue-feathered (BLEEP) an' his family an' friends, I'm GONNA..." and then a description of what the cockatoo would like to do to Blu and company too vile and disturbing to put in writing came spewing out of his beak like a torrent of severely polluted water. The frog winced at the description but then began to try and perk up the cockatoo.
"Oh, don't worry, Nigey, my hotatoo cockatoo," she cooed lovingly and with that, she landed a HUGE kiss onto the cockatoo, named Nigel's, cheek, to the disgust of the cockatoo.
"Oh, STOP it with ya smoochin', Gabi," retorted Nigel as Gabi, the frog, continued to snuggle up to his cheek, "You've been doin' THAT since you found out you were not poisonous. How I wish you actually ARE now!"
Gabi only replied by delivering a slew of MORE smooches to the cockatoo's face so fast that she looked like a multi-headed frog. Releasing a grunt of UTMOST disgust as Gabi resumed snuggling up to his cheek again, Nigel moved on. He began to plan in his wicked mind how to get this pesky little frog off his head, both literally and metaphorically.
Nigel continued to trek through the undergrowth with a lust-saturated Gabi still clinging to his cheek until he finally came to what looked like a treehouse on stilts. This 'treehouse' was almost circular and around the hut were some people, birdwatchers and ornithologists, as they gazed through some binoculars into the sea of green trees or took notes on writing pads. Gabi looked up and saw something stuck on the side of the hut, just above the barrier.
"Hey, Nigey, look, there's some kinda plaque stuck to the side of that hut thing," squeaked she with intrigue. Nigel, curiosity welling within him, tried to gaze at what Gabi had spotted but could not get a good glimpse of the plaque due to the height of the hut on stilts (the Vista Chinesa). Compelled to get a good view of the plaque, or what appears to be one, Nigel began to look for a tree to climb and as soon as he had found one, he went to it and began to ascend it. As he did so, he began to grumble about not being able to fly again because of 'that blue macaw (bleep)' and during the few times he slipped on the trunk and almost actually fell off it, foul words escaped his beak, making Gabi wince and cover her ears to block out the vulgar lyrics. Then after a few more minutes of struggling, Nigel managed to reach a branch that was high enough for him to see the plaque. The plaque was visible between two birdwatchers as they continued to scan the landscape for birds or other animals with their magnifying devices called binoculars. Nigel then glared at the plaque on the side of the Chinesa Vista hut but the moment his brown eyes landed on the picture, his rancour flared like a fireball igniting in a cloud of flammable hydrogen.
"I don't BELIEVE THIS," snarled the cockatoo, his tatty crest flared whenever he got angry, scared or surprised, "THAT PLAQUE HAS MY MOST DETESTED BLUE MACAWS AND THEIR FRIENDS GLUED TO IT!"
Gabi looked on and also took in the plaque.
"Hmm, some of the macaws and those two funny looking winged things look unfamiliar, though," she said, "I've never seen those individuals before."
In the picture were several birds, all of them macaws, and two non-avian individuals described by Gabi as 'funny looking winged things' which were actually furry animals with large webbed hands for wings and dog-like faces: bats called flying foxes but Gabi has NEVER seen a flying fox in her life. In the middle of the row of blue macaws and flying foxes, all perched on a straight branch, were two familiar Spix macaws and those two macaws made Nigel's blood boil with rancour like magma. Flanking those two macaws the cockatoo DETESTED MOST, were three more Spix macaws including one with pigtails, four blue or turquoise macaws with grey heads and yellow eye rings like a hyacinth macaw, and the two large flying foxes, one ginger-furred and the other brown. Nigel then took in the other macaws and the two flying foxes in the picture.
"Some of those other rotten individuals look familiar," he mumbled, before his eyes turned to the two flying foxes, "Especially those two winged rats..."
"You know those other birds and those two funny looking winged things with the fur, Nigey?" asked Gabi.
"They're called flyin' foxes, you pesky little frog," snapped Nigel, making Gabi wince, "Amazon flying foxes to be exact. And those four grey-headed macaws are glaucous macaws. I believe I have met some of them before, but I do recognise those two Amazon flying foxes..."
Gabi gazed at the plaque showing the picture of the Spix and glaucous macaws and the two flying foxes again with a raised eyebrow. Then suddenly, Nigel bolted, forcing her to seize his head to prevent herself from being left behind in midair and falling. Nigel dove behind a cluster of leaves when two of the birdwatchers turned their binoculars in his direction. As the cockatoo breathed in and out rapidly from the shock of almost getting spotted, not wanting to be caged and returned to the Aviary due to the embarrassment Gabi had unintentionally caused him and the mockery he got from the birds and other animals there, Gabi began to assure him again.
"Oh, don't worry, my heartthrob," cooed the frog and with that, she added a kiss to Nigel's cheek and snuggled against his face, "We'll be alright. At least we're enjoyin' our romantic holiday here in Rio."
Nigel rolled his eyes in annoyance and began to make his way down from the branch. As soon as they were back on the forest floor, Nigel's stomach released a growl like a hungry dog. The cockatoo uttered a groan and placed a tattered wing on his belly. Gabi smiled.
"Oh, you're not on your own my lovely Nigey," she crooned, "I'm starvin' too. What have ya got in mind for breakfast?"
Nigel didn't reply to this. He loathed fruit and wanted something meaty to get his beak into. Being the ROTTEN cockatoo that he was, he had the appetite of a meat-eating bird and ALWAYS sank his beak into ANYTHING that was meaty and NEVER fruity. Gabi released a titter.
"Maybe we could have a romantic breakky out, me love hawk cockatoo?" she crooned and snuggled against his cheek again. Then an idea entered the vile cockatoo's head and widened his beak into a wicked smile. However, Gabi didn't notice. Turning his brown eyes to the little frog, Nigel replied, "That's an excellent idea, my... darlin'... lil'... froggie."
Gabi gazed lovingly into the cockatoo's brown eyes and smiled happily. However, she had no idea that the cockatoo had one target for his stomach in mind...
Somewhere else
While the usual activities of Rio and Tijuca Forest continued for both the human and animal inhabitants alike, in another part of the forest, a trio of city animals was out for a walk. They were two Dalmatians and a black and white cat and they were a trio of friends. One of the Dalmatians had large spots bordered by a smatter of smaller spots on his back somewhat like the spots on the surface of our nearest star and the other Dalmatian was a female, the male's girlfriend. The male Dalmatian trotted on ahead, his eyes closed, mouth winded into a smile and musical hums filtering through his lips and nose. His front feet patted the ground in beat to the hum as he walked. Behind him, the female Dalmatian and the cat walked along; amused smiles on their muzzles. This trio of city animals were Sunspot, the oldest son of Milo and Ellie and the pet dog of Tulio and his family which included the four new additions Tommy, Amy, Elise and Ursula, his girlfriend Titania and their cat friend, a tom or male named Vegetal. Vegetal was a slender black and white cat with green eyes and a small fringe on his head. He was an unusual cat. Unlike most city cats that ate birds (except certain birds like birds of prey), mice and fish, Vegetal was completely vegetarian and so was bird-friendly as well as mouse and fish-friendly. His diet was mostly vegetables and vegetarian cat food and he UTTERLY despised meat and fish and has NEVER eaten any sort of prey in his life since he was a kitten. Based on this, his name was taken from the Spanish word for 'vegetable' to refer to his vegetarian nature. He was one of Ónix the red-tailed black cockatoo's neighbours and friends and also an organiser of the cat-and-dog-only samba club, also set up and ran by Sunspot and Titania. Due to cats being present, the three had put up a strict forbidden rule to all birds for their safety. After all, cats and birds were natural enemies, something even Vegetal knew despite being vegetarian and getting on fine with birds. Vegetal lived with a goldfish in a tank, a canary and a pet mouse, the three who were some of his closest friends. He had been mocked by other cats in the neighbourhood for his vegetarian nature, including some of the feline attendees at the club he organised along with Sunspot and Titania, though few accepted him for who he was as a vegetarian cat.
As Sunspot continued to merrily hum and tap his front feet to one of the songs played at the cat-and-dog only club called the Cat and Dog Samba Dome (its name being in English, Spanish and Portuguese and written on the entrance to the tent containing the club), Vegetal smiled at Sunspot as he continued to walk with Titania.
"You know sommat, Titania," the tom cat said, his speech tinted with a Brazilian accent and a slight gangster-like talk, though not the same extent as Nico, Pedro and Chip-I-Am's speech, "Your boyfriend 'as been hummin' our newest song, 'The Doggie an' Kitty Samba Beat', for days now. He sure must LOVE that song."
"He sure does, Vegetal," said Titania with a titter, "That song has proven to be a popular hit among our canine and feline friends."
"I heard that 'Ot Wings (I Wanna Party)' is a very popular song 'mong Nico an' Pedro's bird an' bat club members," said Vegetal, "Your boyfriend's macaw an' flyin' fox friends danced to it sometimes, didn't they?"
"So did Luke and Hauyne the Lear's macaws during a night out," said Titania, "They also love that song despite Luke not being able to fly with just one wing."
Then Vegetal's face fell as thoughts about that poor Australia-grown Lear's macaw and his dealings with Nigel entered his head. "Mind you, when I saw that 'e was one-winged an' how he 'ad lost his left wing, resulting in 'im losing his ability to fly permanently because of that VILE cockatoo Nigel, I had been ABSOLUTELY sickened an' horrified. I just cannot BELIEVE that the smugglers' cockatoo would do such a thing to that poor bird, in fact to ANY bird or other animal for that matter."
"Blu and Jewel had got off lucky when they dealt with that crested vulture," said Titania, malice against Nigel flaring in the last two words of this sentence piece and she growled them, "But other birds and even bats are not as fortunate. In fact, rumour has it that he participated in the targeting of a small clan of ultra-rare flying foxes that used to live close to Rio years and years ago to catch some of those bats for the illegal animal trade."
"Ahsoka is th' only survivor of that little clan, ain't she?" asked Vegetal. Titania nodded.
"And her original name had been Ginger back then and the attack on her clan happened when she was only a little pup, barely past the weaning age for bats when they leave being carried by their mother on her breast to fly on their own. During the smugglers' invasion of the flying fox clan's home, Ahsoka was dropped accidentally by her mother during the chaos," the female Dalmatian continued, "Or that's what Ahsoka thinks."
"Then she was found by one o' Ferdinand's relatives, a blue-an'-gold macaw, rescued and then taken to a group of humans who studied bats where she met her human friend Joanna," said Vegetal.
"Yes and she was raised as a foster bat by the college student but had never learned to fly throughout that entire time," said Titania, "That is, until shortly after meeting Orion and her macaw friends and dealing with another group of smugglers."
"Blu, Aurora, Bellatrix, Sirius an' Luke were also attacked by smugglers an' torn from their little families too," said Vegetal, "Blu was smuggled while his parents were out lookin' for some fruit; Aurora, Sirius and Bellatrix were targeted alongside their families an' Luke was separated from his parents an' caught."
"Yes and Blu went to the United States, Aurora, Sirius and Bellatrix to the United Kingdom and Luke, to Australia," said Titania.
"Those five macaws' backstories are quite similar to Ahsoka's, especially the involvement of pesky poachers," said Vegetal, "Only Ahsoka remained in Brazil if it hadn't been for Ferdinand's relative," the vegetarian black and white cat then gazed skyward at the canopy in ponder, "But I wonder why those blue-an'-gold macaws didn't take Ahsoka under their wing an' raise them themselves."
"It's probably because they felt they couldn't raise a winged mammal like a chick or they felt that she would be safer under the care of a human who studied bats, well away from smugglers, or both," said Titania, "Don't forget, Tijuca Forest had been an unprotected forest at the time and poacher attacks had been quite frequent."
"And their respective mates Jewel, Zephyr along with his sister Brisa, Samara, Antares an' Orion, along with Ferdinand's scarlet mate Ruby were separated from their flocks in the Amazon rainforest by some fire, which is an equally tragic backstory," said Vegetal, "An' Luke's mate Hauyne had been rescued from poachers after bein' kept in bad conditions. However, I don't know much of the macaws' backstories from that event until their capture an' bringing t' Rio and in Hauyne's case, that conservation centre in Peru but Orion, based on what he told Sunspot an' his siblings an' extended macaw family, he used to live in Peru, the same country where Luke and Hauyne the Lear's macaws lived before comin' to Rio for their safety, especially for the sake of their only son Quaoar. He used to live in the trees bordering a large lake with a clan of parakeets who were neighbours and friends to the waterbirds that used to live in and around the lake, including some temporary residents like the migratory Canada geese."
"He helped deal with a large male tyrannical swan who terrorised the inhabitants of the lake, both bird and water mammal alike, as well as the visiting humans and city animals, and non-water birds and mammals that came by the lake to drink and fish," said Titania, "His name was Vecna and he had been Orion's nemesis from the moment they met. He was a hideous beast of a swan, he was. Extremely abusive to his own family and UTTERLY murderous, having attacked and killed countless other animals including ducks and geese and even other swans before, including young ones."
"I'm amazed at how a flying fox could deal with such a MASSIVE bird with such tremendous strength," said Vegetal, "I'd have been UTTERLY terrified even though water doesn't bother me unlike most city cats who often loathe it."
"Orion had help from the residents of the lake and surrounding forest," said Titania, "And eventually, Vecna was driven from the lake during a storm and has not been seen since. Around a week or two later, Orion was found, captured and brought here by some bat studiers to meet Ahsoka in Tulio's Aviary."
"An' the rest is history," said Vegetal with a smile to which Titania nodded. The black and white cat then turned to the humming Sunspot who was clearly lost in the song. "An' Sunspot over there is an excellent pet to Tulio an' his family, especially the quads Amy, Elise, Ursula an' Tommy. 'E should be a guard dog, I think."
"I think he already is one," said Titania in admiration, "He's also an excellent ecology teacher at his ecology club to the puppies and kittens."
"My three nephews like his an' your lessons especially," said Vegetal. The cat had a brother who was a family cat with a mate and three kittens, all of them sons and they were Vegetal's nephews. Unlike Vegetal, his brother, sister-in-law and nephews were all meat-eaters but they mostly dined on fish and chicken and not live prey. Titania's muzzle then formed a proud smile.
"We are indeed a busy pair of doggies," she crooned with the emotion to which Vegetal widened his smile. He then looked ahead at Sunspot.
"Well, once we exit this forest, we'll head back to our club and Sunspot to his family home to check on Linda an' her four new babies," he said.
"Indeed," said Titania, "Anyway, let's resume the walk and head to that street."
Vegetal nodded and with that, he and the female Dalmatian resumed following the still-humming Sunspot.
The trio continued their walk, the end of the forest path in sight but they did not know they were heading for trouble. Sunspot continued to pat his front feet with every step on the ground and hum the song 'The Doggie an' Kitty Samba Beat', a song that had a rap-like beat suited for four-footed mammals such as cats and dogs to dance and sing to. The male Dalmatian and oldest son of Milo and Ellie still had his eyes closed though he occasionally opened them to check where he was walking so that he didn't walk into a tree or a large rock, and his mind was occupied with meeting with the four babies and Linda again when he returned home. However, as Sunspot continued to walk along with his mind swimming in those thoughts, he felt his right front paw suddenly sink into the earth. When he felt this, the male Dalmatian opened his eyes and gazed down at his paw and saw that it had jabbed rather deep into the soil. A look of surprise formed on his face as Titania and Vegetal came up beside him, wondering what was going on.
"Sunspot?" asked Titania. Then Vegetal felt something abnormal about the earth under the three's feet.
"Um, Dalmatians," the black and white cat spoke, dread welling within him, pulling the two spotted dogs' attention to him, "I think... this soil is..." but before the vegetarian cat could finish, the soil broke under the three and collapsed. The two dogs and cat flailed wildly in the air, their legs thrashing at the space around them in a vain attempt to keep them on the surface.
"LOOOOSE!" screeched Vegetal while Sunspot and Titania released howls of surprise, their eyes inflated with it. Then the three fell right into a hole after the collapsed earth and landed with a massive THUD at the bottom. There the two Dalmatians and the black and white cat lay, dazed from the impact of the fall. Someone had dug a hole in the soil and had covered its opening with loose but stiff dirt to conceal it from unsuspecting victims, and Titania, Sunspot and Vegetal had literally walked RIGHT into it.
A little while later, pained moans and whimpers from a cat and two dogs emanated from within the pit, the three recovering from the fall of surprise.
"Oooh, what happened?"
"THAT was TOTALLY unexpected."
"OOOW! My SHOULDER!"
At the bottom of the hole, Sunspot, Titania and Vegetal, once they had recovered from the fall, stood onto their feet and began to examine the pit. The first one glared lividly at the wall as he took it in.
"It's CLEAR this pit had been DUG and COVERED as PART of some PRANK," Sunspot snarled, "There's NO WAY this was done by accident."
"Sunspot, Vegetal has a problem," called Titania. The male Dalmatian turned and saw that the black and white cat was in pain. His face was twisted with his eyes tight shut and teeth gritted and his right front paw grasping his left shoulder.
"Vegetal!" cried Sunspot in horror and went to check his cat friend. Vegetal, agony clearly plastering his face slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the male Dalmatian as he checked his shoulder.
"Can you walk, Vegetal?" asked Sunspot. Vegetal tried to move but shooting pain ripped through his left shoulder, making him release a cat wail. This made a HORRIBLE feeling well within the Dalmatians and they looked at each other.
"We're gonna have to get him outa here and back to his family right way," said Titania, "THAT does NOT sound good at all."
"His owners are gonna go UTTERLY BERSERK when they see that he had been injured," said Sunspot. He had suspected a bad injury in Vegetal's shoulder but he was hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. Sunspot then gazed at Titania, his livid look returning. "Mom and Dad have ALWAYS told me about how malicious and injurious pitfall traps can be. When I had been a puppy and tried to make one in our family and owners' garden to prank one of my siblings, Mom and Dad caught me and I was spanked and grounded for a few weeks and since then, I had NEVER got down to making such a dangerous trap again."
"Even Tiago and Matilda know full well how dangerous pitfall traps can be," said Titania. Then the female Dalmatian, a livid look flaring on her face, turned her head skyward at the entrance of the pit.
"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS STUPID PRANK!?" she barked at the top of her voice. In response to this, giggles of mischief travelled from the rim of the pit and to the two dogs and injured cat's ears and moments later, a few dozen heads appeared around the rim and peered into the pit. These heads had large colourful beaks, some orange tipped with a black point and some lime green with a magenta tip, and in one or two, the colours mashed together. The heads had feathers, all of them black and around the faces; a white mask with a red tint was present. Above the beaks, the eyes of the heads, all belonging to birds, were saturated with mischief as they converged on Sunspot, Titania and the injured Vegetal who still clutched his injured left shoulder with his paw, his face contorted in agony. Giggles escaped from the beaks of these big-beaked birds. Based on how these birds, which were young toucans, were gazing at the trio in the pit and sniggering, Sunspot and Titania deduced one thing. THESE TOUCANS were responsible for the pitfall trap. When this realisation dawned upon the two Dalmatians, HOT RAGE tore through them, especially Sunspot and his anger flared like a certain superhero that shared his name entering his solar form in the superhero comics. Scrabbling at the pit's wall and climbing onto its rim while Titania took Vegetal onto her back to carry him out, Sunspot struggled out of the pit, the toucans, their beaks still releasing giggles, backing away as the Dalmatian male heaved his back legs onto the truly solid earth. After this, Sunspot glared lividly at the young toucans, many of them teens and the remaining few, chicks.
"Dangerous pranks like pitfall traps are NOT AT ALL FUNNY, you BUNCH OF DELINQUENT TOUCANS!" snarled the Dalmatian fierily while Titania struggled her way out of the pit with Vegetal on her back. Then as soon as she was out of the pit, she carefully had Vegetal climb off her back to examine him again. Sunspot flashed the cat, his face clearly twisted in agony, a glance as he struggled to walk, his left front paw off the ground, before returning his glare back at the still-giggling toucans, an even angrier look on his face than before.
"ESPECIALLY if they CAUSE DAMAGE and INJURY" snarled the Dalmatian in an even ANGRIER voice, before gesturing a front paw to Vegetal, "YOUR STUPIDITY in DIGGIN' THAT PIT an' COVERIN' IT has JUST INJURED THAT POOR CITY CAT OVER THERE!"
"Yes, VEGETAL here could WELL HAVE A BROKE SHOULDER!" snarled Titania in agreement, the poor cat in too much pain to even speak. However, he did flash the giggling toucan chicks a FURIOUS glare. The toucan chicks and teens, however, continued to giggle to the OUTRAGE of the two dogs. Then one of the male teens, apparently the ringleader, turned to the canopy and shouted, "NOOOOOW!"
Then before Sunspot, Titania and the pained Vegetal could wonder why this toucan teen had shouted this out, a MASSIVE blizzard of projectiles: seeds and fruit; suddenly exploded from above and began to pelt them like rain and hail. Sunspot winced as a few of the seeds struck him in the muzzle and nose, sending jabbing pain from each impact coursing through that area and making him screw his eyes shut while Titania hastily shielded the injured Vegetal from a barrage of apples and mangoes, those fruit bouncing off of her like tennis balls as she took the hit for the cat. Then the toucans on the land released a MASSIVE cacophony of crow-like giggles and flew upward as more of the toucans, all of them armed with peashooter-like twigs and a leaf-bag containing ammo in the form of fruit, swooped down from the above canopy and pelted the two Dalmatians and cat with more seed (from the peashooters) and fruit. Soft fruit exploded messily on contact as they hit the three city pets while the harder projectiles simply and painfully bounced off them and poor Sunspot was pelted by both these projectile types. As the cackling toucans continued their projectile attack on the trio, the two Dalmatians and cat then began to flee, their fur becoming messier from the splats form the soft fruit such as tomatoes and mangoes.
"Oo-er, THIS IS CERTAINLY GETTIN' BEYOND a JOKE!" snarled Titania as she helped the injured Vegetal who struggled to run due to his injured left shoulder, from the barrage. A tomato flew and splattered into the female Dalmatian's hip while a stream of seeds appeared and pelted Vegetal near the injury spot, making him screech in anger and pain.
"STOP THIS at ONCE, you WRETCHED..." barked Sunspot but a toucan teen appeared and with mischievous cackles escaping her orange and black beak, tossed a few berries at the male Dalmatian's face and causing a MASSIVE explosion of blue juice and flesh, smearing Sunspot's face with it.
"It's no good, Sunspot, they won't listen to your REBUKES AAARGH..." cried Titania as shooting pain ripped through her ear. One of the toucan chicks had jumped onto her head and had begun to pull on her left ear like a dog pulling on a pull toy. Furious, Titania jerked her head to one side and flung the toucan chick from it and into an arrow of five more toucan chicks armed with peashooters and seeds. The six collided and collapsed to the floor while the other toucans continued pelting the two Dalmatians and cat with more seeds and fruit, crow-like cackles escaping their beaks. They continued this until finally, Titania, Sunspot and Vegetal were out of the forest and had disappeared down the path in the direction of Sunspot's former house, their fur smothered in fruit juice and Vegetal limping from his injured left shoulder. The INCREDIBLY naughtily toucan pack then moved on to find their next victims of choice to prank.
At Brendan, Matt and May's house and garden
Sunspot scowled as his mother Ellie continued to wash his fur with a sponge and water of thefruit juice, seeds and flesh while Milo and Inky the King Charles spaniel sought to Vegetal and Titania. The trio were in two tubs of water with Sunspot in one and Titania and Vegetal in the other. Nearby, Milo and Ellie's second litter of five puppies and the younger siblings of Sunspot and his nine siblings played nearby. Sunspot muttered as his mother continued to wash his coat, the sponge going over his brow to clean the blue berry juice from that area but some of the juice had seeped dripped into his right eye and had begun to sting the eyeball, forcing Sunspot to rub it with a front paw. Sunspot then heard a cat wail of pain as he splashed some water into his right eye to wash it of the juice. He turned his head in the direction of Titania and Vegetal and gazed at the pair with his left eye, his right eye partially open due to it still stinging from the juice. Ellie grumbled as her oldest son continued to move.
"Oh, keep still, Sunspot," the mother said, "You're making it harder for me to wash with your movement."
Sunspot then put his paw down and moved his upper body more to get a good look at Titania and Vegetal, making Ellie put her front paws briefly onto the ground in irritation before continuing to wash him. Vegetal, his fur bedraggled from the water, wore a look of agony on his face as Inky checked his left shoulder. His teeth were gritted and his eyes were half-closed in pain. Sunspot spat a clump of soap suds from his mouth when it reached his lips and began to explain to Milo and Ellie.
"Vegetal's injury, along with the fruity mess you saw on our fur, is the work of those toucan chick menaces," he growled. He had already explained to Milo, Ellie and Inky of those toucan chicks' mischief (even that is an understatement now) and pitfall prank as he, Titania and Vegetal, who limped, to them in the garden, "As you can see, Vegetal's injury was caused by our fall into that pit dug and covered by those wretched birds."
A livid scowl formed on Ellie's face when she heard this. "Those toucan chicks of Rafael and Eva are HONESTLY getting out of control, I can tell you. I still remember the MESS and HUMILATION they caused for poor Orion and Ahsoka's three pups, Sandalwood, Acerola and Hermione with Mauro and his marmoset gang of thieves and looters."
"They ruined the friendship between their parents and the flying fox family, anyway," added Sunspot in agreement before he puffed to blow out more soap suds from his mouth, the small clump of the bubbles drifting gently towards the grass like a clumped snowflake. Then Sunspot raised a paw and wiped his right eye again as it stung from the juice of the berries thrown at his face. At this time, Inky had finished examining Vegetal's injury.
"I can't tell accurately if his injury is a broken shoulder without an X-ray but I believe it's a fracture," said the black and white spaniel, before a scowl formed on his face, "Those toucan BRATS of that INCREDIBLY irresponsible orange beaked father and his banshee-voiced keel-billed mother, honestly. They do NOT know the difference between what is harmless mischief and downright malice in their stupid pranks..."
"Cats, when they fall, normally right themselves such that all four of their feet are under their bodies for landing, don't they?" asked Titania jerking her head a bit to fling some suds from her face as Milo continued to wash her fur of the fruit juice, flesh and seeds. Vegetal turned to face her despite the pain from his shoulder.
"We normally... do," he managed to say, "B-but that pitfall took us by such surprise that... I didn't have time to react... and ended up landing on my shoulder at... the bottom of the hole..."
"I'm gonna take you back to your home," said Inky, interrupting the cat's sentence, "This is an emergency trip to the vet's and it's important that we get you there A-S-A-P. Let's go. Can you walk?"
"Just... barely..." grunted Vegetal in pain as he struggled to move his three feet while keeping his front left paw off the ground to avoid putting weight on it and so hurt his shoulder further.
"You could do with a cart or something," said Milo when suddenly, two of his younger puppies came in with a red trolley on wheels and decorated with two broomsticks pointed back and a lock of rainbow ribbons glued to the bristles to make the trolley look like it was being propelled by magical rainbow fuel.
"Will this do, Daddy?" squeaked one of them, a female. A grateful smile formed on Milo's face.
"Oh, thank you, Kayla and Kevin," he said. Like the litter of ten puppies who had names all beginning with 'S', the five puppies of this litter had names all beginning with 'K'. The litter was four daughters named Kayla, Katrina, Kay and Kimberly and a son named Kevin. Milo took the cart from Kayla and Kevin and handed it to Inky. Then with Inky's help, Vegetal carefully climbed into the red cart and once he was in, the spaniel took the injured cat out of the garden and in the direction of his family's home. The Dalmatians looked on.
"I'm dreading his owners' vet bills once he has his X-ray taken at the vet's," said Sunspot with dread.
"What those toucan chicks have done to you, Titania and Vegetal with that pitfall trap and the fruit barrage falls RIGHT within the territory of maliciousness, I can tell you," growled Milo with anger. Near him, Kayla, Katrina, Kay, Kimberly and Kevin backed away somewhat, wary of their father's anger. Whenever Milo got angry, they always quivered, even if they weren't the ones in trouble.
"I'm grateful that you severely disciplined me when I attempted to make such a trap as a prank for one of my siblings in this garden," said Sunspot, before he trembled somewhat, "Had you not caught me, I think I would have taken up that rotten habit..."
"Pitfall traps are INCREDIBLY dangerous, Sunspot son," said Ellie sternly, "As you've seen with Vegetal, they can cause some NASTY injuries to the victims. I just hope Rafael and Eva realise what their twenty-plus offspring had been up to and do something about it because THIS is GETTING UTTERLY ridiculous."
The other older dogs nodded in agreement and the five puppies whose names started with 'K' shuddered at the thought of the nastiness of pitfall traps. Even at that age, they were aware of how dangerous and injurious such traps could be.
