Hello and welcome to a very different story. That's right, I'm crossing over Doctor Who with Rio. Why do you ask, I wonder? Honestly, I don't know. Crossovers are like that sometimes… *cough* Spider-Man and Jessie *cough* but I promise you it won't be like that.

So this story is considered to be part of a collection dubbed the Tenth Doctor: Legacy Collection, where I pair the Tenth Doctor with various franchises and have them face various Doctor Who monsters both old and new (see my DeviantART for more.) It's an excuse to try out new franchises I haven't written yet as well as rebooting some of my older fics (The Time Lord and the Wattersons, Regular Time Lords, Adventure Time with a Time Lord etc.)

But if you don't really care for that and want to read this story, I shall shut up now and let you start the story. As always, I don't own any franchises used in my stories. Enjoy!

(-)

Wheezing and groaning, that's all The Doctor could hear in his head at the moment.

The Last of the Time Lords dashed around the TARDIS console, flicking and pressing every lever and button to make sure the TARDIS maintained its flight pattern. Sparks of electricity spurted out onto the grated metal floor as the ship struggled to cooperate with The Doctor's piloting methods.

"Oi! Behave!" The Doctor exclaimed, grabbing the hammer that hung on the edge and banging it harshly against the console.

The Doctor then dragged the monitor connected to the console towards him so that he could see what's going on outside. The Gallifreyan symbols on the screen were swirling around frantically but from what The Doctor could read, the TARDIS seemed to be on the right track.

"Come on, just a little bit further," The Doctor urged, giving the time rotor a few pats.

From what seemed like a simple answering of a planetary distress call turned into a rapid chase through the Time Vortex. The Doctor had no idea what he was chasing after but he knew, whatever it was, it would be dangerous.

"Traces of an intense heat signature, able to travel through the Time Vortex unprotected…" The Time Lord muttered to himself, continuing to pilot his TARDIS while gazing at the monitor. "What are you? Where are you heading?"

What The Doctor didn't expect next was the unseen figure to suddenly stop in its tracks and completely hurtle itself towards the TARDIS. As the unviewed force impacted with the blue box, The Doctor was immediately thrown onto the console floor as the entire interior spun out of control. As the TARDIS' engines started to stutter, The Doctor grasped at the console and hoisted himself back up.

The Doctor then caught sight of the monitor as he was trying to stabilise the TARDIS' interior, his eyes widening when he realised that the target was distancing itself away.

"Oh no you don't!"

The Doctor slid himself to the other side of the console and pulled one of the bigger levers. The glass rings inside the time rotor rose and collapsed at a now steady pace, eventually coming to a complete stop as the engines suddenly halted with a loud thud.

With the TARDIS at a complete silence, all the Time Lord could do was stand there quietly. We've landed? The Doctor wondered in his head. But where?

Even though he had no idea where the TARDIS was, The Doctor instantly bursted through the doors and quickly slammed them close behind him. Once he was outside, the Time Lord found himself standing around a crowd of people who were surprisingly unaware of the British blue box and the strange man that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"What?" Was all that The Doctor could muster out. Where was he?

Judging from the crowd of humans that currently surround him and the singular sun in the sky, he immediately knew he was on Earth. But where on Earth? Why were all these people here?

The Doctor gazed around, seeing that he was on a concrete platform integrated into a forestry structure. In front of him laid a large city by the oceanside. Like the platform he was on, greenery surrounded the city thanks to lushious mountainsides. It was enough to make The Doctor's jaw drop slightly, how on Earth was he going to find his mysterious figure in this landscape? He didn't even know where to start.

Then the Time Lord decided to look behind him and his eyes widened at the massive statue towering over him. The statue was that of a man with his arms spread wide, which The Doctor recognised immediately as the Christ the Redeemer statue.

"Riiight… Rio de Janeiro," The Doctor murmured, darting himself between the statue and the cityscape. "This is where you decided to hide?"

Pulling out his sonic screwdriver from his inner suit pocket, The Doctor began to fiddle around with the settings and started to scan around the area that surrounded the Redeemer statue. After receiving no clear signal of the strange entity, The Doctor checked his readings on his sonic and frowned disappointingly at the results.

"Nothing? That's not possible," The Doctor then wandered over to the edge of the platform and put the sonic back in his pocket, knowing that it couldn't be used over such big distances. "Where have you gone?"

Curiously, The Doctor gazed over and noticed that there was a vague amount of smoke rising from somewhere between where a few buildings and the greenery met together. Most of the other tourists have yet to see the plume of smoke, either not acknowledging it or are just unaware of it. Or perhaps they thought it was just a normal occurrence in the city, The Doctor wasn't sure.

Sighing in irritation as he ruffled through his hair, The Doctor soon made his way back to the TARDIS. He needed to find better equipment to track down this puzzling creature, that's if the thing he was chasing even was a creature.

But as The Doctor started to open the TARDIS doors, something peculiar had caught the corner of the Time Lord's eye. The Doctor glided his hand on the wooden exterior until stopping across a faded burn mark that was printed on the side of the TARDIS.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and knelt down to stroke the burn mark, rapidly pulling away as soon as he made contact with the wood.

Still hot. The Doctor remarked in his thoughts, rubbing his hand to take the pain away. The TARDIS was a pretty tough old girl, having survived the horrors of the Time War with only scuffs and scratches. So whatever had impacted the TARDIS exterior must be very powerful.

"Oh… what's that nasty thing done to you, old girl?" The Doctor mutters towards the TARDIS, putting on a pair of rectangular framed glasses and examines the burn mark at a much closer distance. "This is no ordinary burn mark, burns don't usually go through your defences. So either I accidentally left the shields down again… or we're in serious danger, not to mention the Earth too."

As The Doctor examined the slight damage to the TARDIS, something else managed to catch his eye as he felt a slight hint of warmth besides his feet. The Doctor turned to see that a small feather was resting beside him. The feather was small and had an amazing blend of reds, oranges and yellows, it was unlike any feather that The Doctor has ever seen.

The Doctor was almost hesitant to pick the feather up but did so with the gentlest touch. He discovered that the feather wasn't as hot as the burn mark but still remarkably warm despite the slight chilly wind in the air.

Pulling out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket once again, The Doctor scanned the feather intensely. What he was picking up was similar to what the TARDIS had determined earlier: A heat signature that had died down from the previous readings and traces of artron energy.

Definitely a connection there, The Doctor thought as he put the feather in his lower suit pocket. I'm definitely in the right place… but where's the–

The Doctor's thoughts were halted when he gazed back at the city landscape, his mind began to wander back to that small plume of smoke in the city. Maybe that wasn't just a normal puff of smoke? Maybe it was…?

The Doctor immediately started to dash around the platform, moving back and forth between the opposite edges. He had to find someone quickly, someone must know where that smoke was rising from.

Eventually, The Time Lord came across what seemed to be a local tour guide leading a group of tourists near behind where the smoke could be seen from. The Doctor, whipping out his psychic paper, rushed to the tour group in a professional manner.

"Hello, sorry, if I could interrupt, won't take a tic," The Doctor said to the tour group as he showed off his psychic paper to everyone. "John Smith, part of the Tour Group Association, just here to check on everything."

The tour group exchanged confused glances and mumbling, making the tour guide quite irritated at The Doctor's sudden appearance. "Sir, I don't think–"

"Don't worry about me, bit in a hurry. All I need is just a simple question from you," The Doctor assured him, putting his psychic paper back in his pocket. He then gestured towards the smoke in the distance. "That smoke over there, where is it coming from?"

The tour guide seemed a bit taken back by the strange question. "Well, um, I think that's where the Centro de Conservaçāo Ambiental is located."

"What's that? A sanctuary?"

"A bird sanctuary, yes," The guide nodded. "They bring in birds who were previously captured by smugglers, a sadly regular occurrence in this part of the world. They made headlines recently, claiming that they have the last two blue macaws left in existence."

As much as The Doctor found that interesting, he didn't have time for any follow-up questions. "Right, right, yes," he muttered, trying to stop the guide from rambling. "Thank you, you just keep… tour guiding."

With all the information he needed, The Doctor raced back to the TARDIS and made his way to the main console. He then pulled the feather out from his pocket and examined it once again, twirling it around in his fingers.

"Centro de Conservaçāo Ambiental…" The Doctor mumbled to himself, holding the feather up towards his face. "Right then, time to find out what you are."

The Doctor pulled the nearby lever on the console, causing the time rotor to move up and down as the TARDIS's engines started to make that familiar characteristic wheezing sound.

As the TARDIS dematerialised away from the Redeemer statue, The Doctor continued to gaze at the mysterious feather found near his time machine. Everything about this feather seemed strange to the last of the Time Lords, but he couldn't help but find it familiar somehow. The idea of a feathered creature flying through the Time Vortex was something he heard about before through whispers and rumours however he couldn't put a finger on where he heard it from.

Whatever it was… The Doctor needed to be ready, for his and the Earth's protection.

(-)

Everything was normal at the Centro de Conservaçāo Ambiental, until it came along.

It came so suddenly. The day was like any normal day, nothing out of the ordinary, until a sudden ball of fire shot down from out of the sky. The impact was enough to create an almost blinding light across the centre, a small crater appearing as the light dissipated.

As soon as the crater appeared, everyone was hesitant to approach it. For all they knew, it could be a radioactive meteorite or something far worse. It only took a few minutes until the staff at the sanctuary decided to make their move towards the crater.

Because that's when they heard the sound of agony.

The first one on the scene was Dr. Tulio Monteiro, an ornithologist at the conservation centre and the self-proclaimed 'Great Big Mama Bird' to many of the avian species that were being tended to there.

Even though he wasn't wearing any type of radiation suit, which the sanctuary unfortunately didn't have the resources for, Tulio decided to edge further to the edge of the crater where he peered down to see what was in the centre.

His eyes widened, not believing what he was seeing at this very moment. "Oh my!" he exclaimed.

What he saw in the crater was an unbelievable sight; it was a bird. But it wasn't just any bird, it was different from any bird that Tulio has ever seen or looked after.

The bird was roughly around the size of an average swan, with an impressive wingspan as it laid unconscious on the now ashy dirt. Its feathers were mostly a magnificent crimson, which slowly blended into orange and then yellow as the colours got closer to the middle of its chest.

Tulio was gobsmacked to see, from where he was standing at least, that all of the colours on the bird's feathers were glowing as it dazzled from head to wing. The strange bird from the sky fascinated the bird nut yet it filled his mind with a thousand questions.

Despite the inner voice in his head telling him not to go any further, Tulio decided to proceed towards the glowing bird. As he cautiously got closer to the peculiar-looking bird, Tulio could feel the ground getting warmer with each step. But he couldn't care less about the heat right, this bird needed his help.

The glowing bird's eyes instantly shot open the minute Tulio had knelt down beside it, revealing a pair of orange orbs that seemed to scream out fear and uncertainty.

"Easy, easy," Tulio assured it, attempting to softly grab it in his hands. "Everything's going to be alright, you're safe now."

But as soon as the ornithologist made the slightest touch with the bird's feathers, he immediately retracted and gave a quick yelp. He gave the mysterious bird a confusing glance, not expecting the amount of heat the creature was currently giving off.

How was he going to take this thing back to the sanctuary? If he carried it back with his bare hands, his arms would be roasted alive. There had to be a way to transport this bird, right?

Then, suddenly, an idea clicked. Scampering up the crater as fast as he could, he quickly dashed back into the sanctuary and grabbed a pair of anti-bite gloves. He then sprinted back to the centre of the crater where he put on the gloves and advanced slowly towards the strange bird.

"Okay, take two," Tuilo muttered, taking a deep breath as the bird eyed him suspiciously. "Easy does it now…"

This time, thankfully, Tulio was able to scoop the fiery creature in his arms. The bird fidgeted a little from the ornithologist's touch but was too weak to do anything; it couldn't fight or flee, it just had to accept help from this stranger.

"There, there, you're going to be alright," Tulio mumbled as he moved up the crater and towards the sanctuary, seeing that the bird was trying to move feebly. The bird could only answer with a quiet squawk, which sounded unusual in Tulio's ears.

Just as the heat from the bird was about to bypass the gloves, Tulio was successfully able to carry it inside. As he kicked the door, he noticed the confused glances of everyone in the aviary. Even some of the birds that were being looked after were uneasy around the mysterious creature.

"Fernando! Clear a table!" Tulio exclaimed.

Fernando, Tuilo's adoptive son, shot up from his sitting position and went to clear things off a nearby table. "On it, papa!" he said.

As Tuilo laid the strange bird on the now empty table, Linda, his partner of a few months who originally lived in Minnesota, went by his side and stared sympathetically at the motionless bird-like being.

"Tulio… what is that thing?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

"I don't know," Tuilo answered, staring at Linda with a mix of confusion and empathy on his face. "But what I do know is, whatever or whoever this creature is, that it needs our help…"

He then looked back towards the bird. "It needs a doctor."

(-)

Even as the chaos unfolded in the Aviary, there was one room in the sanctuary that remained quiet as ever. The room itself resembled a small forest, packed with trees and bushes to simulate the likes of the Rio jungle or perhaps even the Amazonian rainforest.

In the depths of the trees slept two blue Spix Macaws, a male and a female respectively. As far as they know, along with the rest of the world, they are the last blue macaws in the entire world.

However, it wasn't an easy process to bring them together.

It was only three months ago when Blu and Jewel met each other for the first time, soon becoming reluctantly chained together as smugglers silently stole them in the dead of night. While the chains hindered them for most of their journey, it didn't stop the two forming a bond and eventually falling in love with each other.

After the smugglers, and their villainous cockatoo Nigel, were stopped, Jewel's wing was injured during their escape and was nursed back to health once they returned to the conservation centre. Even though Jewel had made a full recovery just three weeks after the smuggling incident, both Tuilo and Linda were insistent that they'd be kept in the centre while they try to find a safer, or outdoorsy, place for them to roam around.

Jewel was the first of the two birds to wake up, she opened her eyes slowly and sighed happily as caught sight of the one she held most dear in her life.

Blu was snoring away next to her, his tongue hanging off the side of his beak in a very uncharming way. While the male macaw was the complete polar opposite to her, that's why Jewel fell for him in the first place. He's different from anyone that she's laid her eyes upon, forever changing her life for the better.

Not wanting to wake her significant other, Jewel carefully wriggled herself from Blu's wings and glided down to the makeshift stream that was down below. Once she got there, she bent over to get herself a drink.

Once she tilted her head back to shallow, she then started to glance around the artificial forest and simply sighed at the sight of it. It may look like the jungle Jewel once grew up but it didn't have that 'breathe of life' that jungles usually do. It lacked the fresh air and the birds singing every morning, but most of all, it lacked the freedom Jewel desired.

The humans say that we'll be out of here in no time, Jewel thought to herself. But what does that mean? When is it going to be 'no time'?

However, there was a way for both Jewel and Blu to have, at least, a taste of freedom during their captivity. Jewel peered behind her to a large gap in the wall, formerly where a metal grate she had tried to pry open had been bolted on.

During Jewel's recovery for her injured wing, Tuilo managed to make some modifications to their hollow. This would allow them to fly in and out of the conservation centre whenever they pleased. But they haven't had the chance to test out so often as Jewel wanted to.

Jewel smiled to herself as an idea formed in her head. Maybe Blu and I should get some fresh air, it's no good to be cooped up in here all day.

Immediately, Jewel returned to where Blu was sleeping and started to gently shake him in an attempt to wake him up.

"Blu? Hey, Blu," she hissed. As much as she wanted to just let Blu sleep, she wanted to get him up and about so they could leave as soon as possible.

The male macaw's eyes instantly burst open as he shot himself up from his sleeping position, his head darting around frantically as if he had no idea where he was.

"Huh? What?" Blu muttered groggily, his eyelids still looking a bit heavy. A warm smile spread across his beak. "Oh good morning, Jewel."

"Good morning to you as well," Jewel said. "Sorry for waking you early,"

"Oh, no, no. It's fine, I was just about to get up anyway," Blu said. Jewel internally chuckled at the obvious lie, seeing beforehand that Blu was far from waking up. "Is everything alright? Are you okay?" Blu then wondered, noting Jewel's apology.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Jewel assured him, giggling as she leant her beak against his. "I was just wondering if you wanted to come for a quick little flight outside with me."

Blu's eyes widened. "Now?"

"Sure, why not?" Jewel said with a nod. "It'll give us a chance to spread our wings a bit. We can't just stay cooped up in here, can we?"

"But what about Linda and Tulio? Surely they ought to know where we're going…"

"Linda and Tuilo don't need to know," Jewel murmured. "It's only just for a few minutes, we can get back before they even think about opening that door."

Blu still looked a bit unsure. Flying around with his newfound companion wasn't an issue for Blu, he was more worried about being separated from Linda, his best friend, without her knowing where he was going. It happened to her when they first arrived and Blu didn't want her to go through that same process again.

"I don't know, Jewel…" he mumbled.

Jewel then battered her eyes, which made Blu instantly stiffen up as his cheeks went red. "Please? For me?"

Blu stood silently, unable to speak clearly as he contemplated Jewel's offer as he stared right into her turquoise eyes. Something about gazing right into those eyes almost made Blu feel hypnotised, like he was no longer under control of himself.

"Alright then, we'll go…" Blu eventually said, a goofy smile on his face.

"Thank you, Blu." Jewel exclaimed, beaming as she kissed Blu on the cheek, causing him to freeze up even more. "Come on, we should leave as soon as possible."

"Sure, just give me a second to wake up first," Blu said, getting up from his sitting position before stretching out his limbs in a very human-like fashion.

Once Blu did his stretches, Jewel spread out her wings and took off towards the open shaft ahead. Blu followed closely behind her but wasn't flying as graceful and relaxing as she was. While Jewel only flapped her wings every now and then, Blu was flapping his wings every passing second. Blu had only just discovered how to fly three months ago, he thought he would have mastered it by now. Boy, was he wrong…

Jewel failed to notice her significant other's struggles as she kept her focus on the flight ahead. The two finally made it out of the metal shaft and out into the bright sunshine that Rio de Janeiro provided.

As they soared through the sky, Jewel did some twirls and breathed in the fresh air as she closed her eyes to live in the moment.

Finally… some freedom.

Jewel then opened her eyes and swirled around to see where Blu was, wanting him to join her in feeling the open air, only to discover that he was struggling to make certain turns through the breeze.

"You okay back there?" Jewel called out to Blu.

"Yeah!" Blu answered back, his wings moving up and down distraughtly. "At least I'm off the ground and not plummeting, right?!"

"You need to ease up on your flapping," Jewel then advised him, noticing how Blu was flying. "You're too tense… just relax and let the wind guide you!"

"Oh, like the Force?"

Jewel's brow raised slightly. "The… what?"

Blu only just laughed, making Jewel even more confused. "Just a human thing, don't worry about it," He then took a deep breath and slowed his flapping speed. "Just relax… let the wind guide me."

The male macaw closed his eyes and let all his anxieties go. Once he was fully relaxed, his flying became more calmer and less like a cartoon character trying to save themselves from certain death.

"There we go, that's the spirit Blu!" Jewel shouted out, smiling at her companion's success. "Form's a bit off though but we'll work on that."

Blu's eyes suddenly opened as he gazed up towards Jewel with a mischievous smirk. "Oh yeah?"

Before Jewel could even react, Blu shot like a bullet up towards her and playfully tackled her in the air before clutching her in his wings for a brief moment. As they started to free-fall, both Blu and Jewel extended their wings and gently fluttered them to maintain momentum.

"How's that for form?" Blu wondered, his cheeky grin still plastered across his face.

"I'm definitely impressed," Jewel said, feeling flustered from Blu's sudden gesture. "You're certainly full of surprises, meu amor."

Jewel then hovered closer towards Blu, leaning against his beak once again. "This is nice," she whispered in his ear.

"Yes, it is," Blu muttered.

"You know… once we have our own space, we can do this every day,"

A smile spread across Blu's face. "I would like that… so, so much."

Jewel was about to give Blu a kiss but immediately stopped at the last second when something caught her eye from behind her male companion. Her eyes widened when she saw that it was near where Linda and Tuilo worked.

"Blu? What's that down there?"

Blu was too lovestruck at that point to take notice at first. He then snapped out of his trance when he noticed Jewel's facial expression and cautiously peered around to see what she was looking at.

His eyes were filled with horror. Just in front of the conversation centre was a large crater, but not as large as ones he's seen on the National Geographic channel back in Minnesota. It was small but large for both Blu and Jewel to notice it in the sky.

But what had caused it? Why didn't they hear it? But more importantly, was everyone okay?

"What is that?" Jewel wondered.

"Come on, we have to see if Linda and the others are okay," Blu muttered as he separated himself from Jewel.

"Of course, yeah." Jewel said softly. She knew how much Linda meant to Blu so she needed to be there for her love, just in case the unthinkable occurred.

The two birds dived from the sky and quickly flew down to the centre. As they reached the crater, they frantically scanned the area to search for any signs of human activity. They found nothing, no one was around. Surely someone must've seen that crater being made?

"Linda's not here," Blu deduced, the slightest hint of panic in his voice. "Do you think she's inside already?"

Jewel tried her best to calm her companion. "Hey, she's going to be alright," she assured him. "There's a chance she might've not been anywhere near the crater."

Blu's rapid breathing seemed to ease with Jewel's words, but his eyes told a different story.

"Yeah, yeah…" he huffed. "There's still a chance."

After calming Blu down a bit more, Jewel took another look around the area surrounding the crater. She didn't know this place like the back of her wing but there was a peculiar object on the rim of the crater that she definitely felt was out of place.

A blue box.

"Blu, come see this," Jewel called out, gesturing her head towards the box as she soon started to descend near it.

As soon as Jewel made her move, Blu raised an eyebrow and followed suit. Eventually the two birds landed on top of the roof of the blue box, feeling the smooth and glassy surface on their talons.

"I wonder what this thing is," Jewel murmured, tapping the roof with a talon. "I've never seen a structure like this before."

Blu moved to the edge of the roof and peered down underneath, using his feet to keep him from completely falling off. "Police public call box…" he read.

"Police what now?" Jewel queried, looking at Blu blankly.

"Human law enforcement," Blu replied. "They must be here to investigate what happened here."

"Oh right," Jewel said, pointing towards the small hole in the ground. "Look, there's someone in the crater now."

From where Jewel was pointing, Blu could see a single human directly in the middle of the crater. The human wore a dark blue suit, a couple of shades darker than the police box, with rust red pinstripes, complete with a white dress shirt and a red tie. Blu also noticed that his hair was all over the place in a sticky-uppy style, as if a furry creature was resting on top of the human's head.

Blu has seen policemen before, at least back in Minnesota, but something about this man didn't seem like a policeman. Sure he had the detective-style suit, but he looked more like a casual businessman rather than someone of the law.

If he wasn't police, who was he? What kind of person would willingly go into a crater in the ground? But most importantly, what was he looking for?

"I wonder what he's searching for," Jewel then said, breaking Blu out of his thoughts.

Blu started to spread his wings out. "Let's find out," he said. Unlike Jewel, Blu was used to approaching strangers as he was used to seeing unfamiliar faces back in Linda's old bookstore.

"Blu! Wait!" Jewel exclaimed.

Seemingly at the sound of Jewel's voice, the man in the crater looked up and slightly turned his head to see that Blu and Jewel were gliding around him. The man discreetly put something into his pocket and smiled at the sight of the blue macaws.

"Oh hello there," The man greeted as Blu and Jewel touched down near him. Jewel noted how his voice was different from the American accents Linda and Blu had, but she couldn't figure where it was from. "You wouldn't happen to see a feathered alien creature anywhere, have you?"

Blu and Jewel exchanged bewildered glances, Jewel even more so. Since they couldn't answer him, due to the obvious language barrier between human and bird, the two just remained silent for now.

The man just blinked, oddly half-expecting a reply of sorts. "Yeahhh, me neither," The stranger then started to fish something from one of his suit pockets, eventually pulling out a walkie-talkie shaped machine from it. "I was hoping this little gizmo would help me but I can't seem to lock onto its energy signature…"

A frown soon engulfed the stranger's face as he showed off the machine. On a closer inspection, Blu noticed that the device wasn't a walkie-talkie but something completely hand-built. It was rectangular shaped and had a thin antenna extending out, a small dish being directly placed in the middle surrounded by wires and flashing lights.

However on the back of the device was something that wasn't machinery but rather a singular feather. A feather that emitted shades of bright, fiery colours, it was almost blinding to stare at it directly.

Blu had never seen a feather like that before, it was as stunning as anything he's ever laid eyes on… apart from Jewel's feathers of course.

But who did that feather belong to? Was it from the same creature that this man was looking for?

"Look, the little dish should be moving around. See?" The strange man continued to ramble, flicking the mini radar dish around with his finger. "I like it when the dish moves around…"

Jewel gave an odd look towards the man. "He does know that we can't answer him right?" She muttered to Blu.

Before Blu could respond, the stranger spoke up instead. "Yeah, sorry about that. When I'm travelling alone, I tend to talk to–" He then stopped mid-sentence and stared directly at Jewel and Blu with his eyes widened. "...whoever's nearby."

Both of the blue macaws gazed blankly at the man as he leant in closer towards them. "What?" The stranger muttered, wondering if he had misheard something.

Then it clicked. Blu and Jewel's heartbeats increased as they fully started to realise why this man was staring at them. He could hear them. He could hear them in a way no human can.

"What?!" The two birds exclaimed together.

"What?!"

The man and the birds shared an awkward silence, unable to speak to each other as they struggled to reel in what just happened. Never has a single human been able to understand what they're saying or thinking, not even Tulio, who was thought to be a kind of 'bird whisperer'.

Blu was the first to break the tension. "You… You can hear us?"

"It would seem so, yes," The man answered.

"But how?" Jewel wondered.

"Well, I do speak a dozen languages. Including bird." The man explained, his face forming into a puzzled glance. "But that's usually telepathic. Seeing you actually physically speak is different, much different."

"Telepathic? What?" Jewel questioned, becoming even more confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm The Doctor."

Jewel cocked her head to the side. "The Doctor?"

"Yup, that's me," The Doctor nodded, pulling one of his ears.

"Doctor who?" Blu asked.

"Just, the Doctor."

"Okay then, The Doctor," Jewel said, uncertain of this man's name. "What brings you to Rio? You're obviously not a tourist."

"Like I said, I'm tracking a feathered alien creature," The Doctor explained, waving his gizmo around. "I tracked it with this thing to this location and here we are."

The Doctor then pulled out a silver stick-like device from his suit pocket and pointed towards his gizmo, a blue light emitting from the tip alongside a piercing humming sound that was enough to make Blu's eye twitch slightly.

"Just need to reconfigure…" The Doctor muttered, holding the machine up to his face. A small spark soon ignited for a brief second, causing the gizmo's lights to flicker frantically. The dish in the middle had even started to move slowly, to The Doctor's delight. "Ah there we go! Oh look, the little dish is moving around!"

"Is that good or bad?" Blu wondered.

The Doctor shrugged. "I don't know, it depends on what I'm tracking really." The strange man then quickly stood up and pointed the gizmo at half an arm's length. "Now, let's see where you are hiding…"

The two macaws watched as The Doctor carefully rotated around the crater. With each step, the beeping on his small device seemed to get louder and the little dish spun around at a much faster rate.

"This guy seems weird," Jewel whispered to Blu. "Can we trust him? What if he's a smuggler?"

"I don't think he is, Jewel," Blu shook his head. "If he was, wouldn't he want to capture us too?"

Jewel stayed silent as her eyes narrowed towards the stranger. Blu did have a point but there was something about this mysterious Doctor that Jewel couldn't figure out. All she knew was that she needed to keep a closer eye on this odd fellow.

Eventually, The Doctor stopped rotating as smoke was starting to rise from his gizmo. The dish was spinning at such a fast rate, it was like a power drill.

"That building there," The Doctor said. "That's where it is."

To Blu and Jewel's surprise, the gizmo was pointing towards the Centro de Conservaçāo Ambiental. With all this drama with a strange creature crashing from the sky, how come they didn't hear anything as they slept? Surely they would've been woken by the sound of panic and confusion, right?

The Doctor turned his gizmo off and stuffed it back in his pockets. "Right. Thanks for the chat, you two," he said. "I can handle it from here."

Before The Doctor could stroll off, Blu suddenly took off in pursuit of him. Jewel stood there surprised at her boyfriend's sudden urge to follow this strange man but eventually went and flew after him.

"Wait up!" Blu called out, causing The Doctor to stop in his tracks and dart around to the female macaw. "We'll help you find this creature, we're supposed to be getting back inside anyway."

The Doctor stared at the two birds for a moment, pondering over Blu's surprising offer before reluctantly nodding his head.

"Alright then," The Doctor said. "Just, stay behind me. This could get ugly…"

Blu's eyes widened. He did not like the sound of that.

"Blu! What are you doing?" Jewel exclaimed as she caught up to him and The Doctor.

"Helping?"

"Helping?! Why are we helping a human?!" Jewel almost shouted out, remembering that The Doctor was beside them. "We don't do that!"

"I know, I know but whatever this creature is, it's caused this amount of damage," Blu murmured, gesturing towards the crater. "Imagine what it could do inside. I can't let Linda get in the way."

"And what about this Doctor, huh?" Jewel then hissed. "He may look innocent but who knows what he's going to do."

"What are you saying, you don't trust him?"

Jewel's eyes widened. "And you do?"

Blu shook his head. "Well, I don't know him well so not really. But you trust me right?"

"Of course, but–"

"Look, if I'm wrong… I'm wrong," Blu muttered. "But if I'm right and we can help this Doctor with whatever he needs help with then that thing won't cause any more damage."

Jewel didn't say anything as she pondered her companion's words. She didn't like it, thinking that The Doctor was some nutjob wanting to smuggle a creature in broad daylight, but if she could get close to the stranger enough so that she can help out the right side when the time occurs.

On the other hand, she could potentially be helping a nutjob in saving a creature. Tulio was a weird human when Jewel first met him but grew to respect him as she and Blu got closer. Maybe this Doctor would be the same?

The female macaw eventually sighed. "Okay, we'll help him. Let's just hope you're right."

"I hope so too,"

The Doctor, meanwhile, was almost at the front door. "You two coming or not?" he wondered.

"Yeah, we're coming!"

Blu and Jewel gave one final glance at each other before both flying towards The Doctor. Before he could knock on the door, The Doctor then suddenly turned himself around to face the two birds. "Sorry, I didn't get your names before," he muttered. "You've got names, right?"

Blu simply nodded his head. "Yes, I'm Blu and this is Jewel."

The Doctor beamed. "Nice to meet you, Blu and Jewel. Let's go and find ourselves an alien creature."

(-)

Run. That's all the creature wanted to do.

The creature couldn't remember much after crashing into the nearby planet. Apparently the locals call it 'Earth', which seemed odd considering the amount of water that surrounds the lands.

What happened? What was chasing him in the first place? The blue box… or the other ship?

Sudden memories flowing back into his head, the creature staggered awake from his slumber and fell face first from his perch and onto the table below.

They were coming, he needed to leave.

"Oh Fawkes, you poor thing." A female voice called out to him.

All the creature could do was squawk in confusion, Fawkes certainly wasn't the name chosen for him. But since these humans haven't met him before, it's a name he would have to live with… for now.

The voice came from a human, a being that towered over Fawkes. Her size compared to him was enough to make the creature scamper away behind his perch when she attempted to grab him with large gloves placed on her hands.

"Oh no, it's okay," she tried to assure him. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Fawkes remained behind his perch, too anxious to move as the human came closer towards him. On instinct, the strange creature instantly heated himself up enough for the human to quickly back away from her.

He had been already touched, brought to a place of recovery only to be gawked at by a species not his own. All Fawkes wanted to do was get back home, but deep down he knew he couldn't… not when they were after him.

"Linda, are you alright?" Another human, the male of the species, wondered as he darted over to Linda, seeing her reaction to Fawkes' outburst.

"I'm fine, Tulio, just got a bit too close," Linda muttered, rubbing her hands and re-adjusting her glasses. "Fawkes fell off his perch, I wanted to put him back."

Tulio gently grabbed Linda's hands and examined them. "You need to be careful," he said. "We don't know what this thing is, or why it has the tendency to set itself on fire. No bird can't do that, it's just impossible!"

"Whatever it is, it's scared and needs our help," Linda murmured, folding her arms and staring at Fawkes sympathetically. "I just want to know what could scare something that's hot to touch…"

Suddenly, to the surprise of everyone, Sylvio, the resident security guard at the conservation centre, burst through the door, making everyone in the aviary jump in sheer fright. "Tulio! There's someone who wants to see you!"

Linda and Tulio exchanged glances. "Who?" Tulio queried.

"An inspector, sir," Sylvio replied. "Says it's urgent."

Tulio grunted in frustration, rubbing his eyes in irritation. "Tell him to come back, we're in a bit of a situation right now."

"He's insisting," Sylvio said. "He's got Blu and Jewel with him too, so I let him in."

"What?" Linda exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"Alright fine," Tulio sighed, seeing no other choice. "But he has to be quick."

Sylvio nodded and left the aviary, leaving the door open wide. While Linda and Tulio were too focused on who was going to walk through the door, Fawkes found himself emerging from behind his perch as he caught a whiff of something unusual in the air.

He could smell the humans and the rest of the avian species that they were looking after but through the doors, there was a scent of something inhuman. Fawkes couldn't exactly tell what species he was tracking but he just hoped it wasn't out to get him.

To his relief, it wasn't who Fawkes thought it would be. Instead it was another male humanoid: tall, thin and had hair that looked like it was all over the place. While he looked like an average human, there was something in his eyes that made him feel older… way older.

Flying beside him were two blue birds, one was small and slender with light blue feathers while the other had darker feathers and was more taller and stockier. The two birds perched themselves on the table closest to the door as the humanoid closed it behind him.

"Hello there!" he exclaimed, giving Linda and Tulio a wave. "I'm The Doctor, I'm here to inspect your property."

The man calling himself 'The Doctor' held out his hand for someone to shake. Tulio looked at the man curiously and reluctantly shook his hand. "Dr. Tulio Monteiro," he said before gesturing to Linda. "And this is Linda, my partner."

"Hello," Linda added as she also shook The Doctor's hand. "I see you have already met Blu and Jewel."

The Doctor grinned. "Yes, well, we sort of bumped into each other really."

"Forgive me, Doctor, but you aren't our usual inspector," Tulio pointed out.

"Well, it's only my first day," The Doctor responded, pulling out a black wallet from his suit pocket and opening it up to show Tulio. "My credentials should be all in there."

Both Linda and Tulio squinted to get a better look and their expressions changed from uncertainty to that of impressed.

"Everything seems to be in order," Tulio said. "But I'm afraid this isn't a good time. Perhaps you can come back tomorrow?"

"Nonsense, nothing better than a surprise inspection. Really shows someone's true colours that way," The Doctor interjected, putting his hands in his pockets as he wandered about the aviary. "Don't worry, you won't even know I'm here."

"Somehow I doubt that…" Jewel spoke up suddenly. Fawkes wasn't surprised at the birds having the ability to talk, he heard some of the other occupants chatting quietly to themselves. He was surprised, however, that the humans don't really acknowledge them when they speak. Fawkes wasn't sure that was either a normal thing for this planet or perhaps the humans couldn't actually hear them.

The Doctor was quickly glancing over at some of the equipment in the aviary where he finally noticed Fawkes in the distance. There was a hint of recognition in The Doctor's eyes, as if he had seen someone like the strange creature before.

"Hello…" The Doctor muttered. "Who's this?"

The Doctor made his way to Fawkes' perch, with Linda and Tuilo darting closely behind. Blu and Jewel also flew to where everyone was and landed close to Fawkes, choosing to stay closer to The Doctor and the others.

"Now, aren't you a wonderful thing?" The Doctor murmured with a smile.

"Careful with him, he's not comfortable around strangers." Linda advised.

"Well, that he's too hot to touch," The Doctor added, pointing to the burn marks around Fawkes' perch. "Where did you find him?"

"He was found unconscious in the crater nearby, I was only just able to get Fawkes inside with gloves." Tulio answered.

The Doctor beamed. "Oh, you named him Fawkes? Brillant, I love it!"

Linda rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Yeah well, he kinda looks like a phoenix so I thought of nothing else but that name…"

Jewel went over to Blu and held him close. "What kind of name is Fawkes?" she hissed.

"It's from a book that Linda used to read all the time, it's about a boy wizard that goes to a magic school. Fawkes was the name of the headmaster's companion."

Jewel simply blinked in confusion. "Wizard? Magic?" she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. "Humans sure have a weird imagination."

"Wait till you read book seven… I cried." The Doctor butted in, keeping his voice down so that Linda and Tulio couldn't hear him. He then cleared his throat and knelt down so he was closer to Fawkes' eyeline. "Now then, Fawkes… you're a long way from home, aren't you?"

Fawkes' eyes darted between The Doctor and Linda, before he nervously nodded his head. Linda and Tuilo's eyes widened. This bird understood him very well, more than the average bird in the jungle.

"He… understood you," Tuilo muttered, absolutely amazed. "That's incredible! You didn't squawk at him or shake your tail feathers or anything!"

"I've got a very trustworthy face," The Doctor murmured, not looking away from Fawkes.

Despite his so-called trustworthy face, Fawkes was still hiding behind his perch. Everyone was still looking at him, gazing at him like he was some prize collection on a shelf. He didn't like it, he just wanted to hide.

"It's okay… I'm The Doctor, I'm here to help," The Doctor gently assured the fiery creature. "You were running from something when you bumped into my TARDIS, weren't you?"

Fawkes gave another nod.

"What was it? Who's after you?"

Fawkes gulped as fear overwhelmed his system. He didn't want to say their name but this Doctor was here to help right? Maybe he can help him, maybe he can get rid of them and then he can get back home.

"Judoon," he eventually croaked.

While Fawkes' answer didn't faze the others, Blu noticed that The Doctor's face turned deadly serious. Blu didn't know what Fawkes was talking about but judging from The Doctor's expression, it wasn't anything good.

"Wow, I've never heard a squawk like that before," Linda said, unaware of The Doctor's changed expression.

The Doctor simply turned and gave her a glare. "It's not a squawk…"

For a while, everything was quiet. The Doctor then stood up and began to slowly walk towards the window, almost in a trance-like state. Blu and Jewel took one last sympathetic look at Fawkes before taking off and following The Doctor to the window.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Jewel wondered.

"Shhh!" The Doctor quickly hushed Jewel, a response that got Linda and Tulio confused.

"But we didn't–" Linda almost said.

"Shhh!" The Doctor hissed again, putting a finger on his lips. He then turned towards a nearby table where a singular glass of water was placed.

At first, nothing was unusual. The water was completely still.

Until… a small ripple.

Another ripple, a little bigger this time.

A third ripple. This time, it's much larger.

"Doctor, did you hear something?" Blu asked.

The Doctor ruffled his hair. "Oh yeah… we need to get Fawkes out of here, like far from here."

Before anyone could do anything, Fawkes began to flutter his wings in a heap of panic and he started to caw loudly. As his body started to brighten up, his rapid flapping wings caused the barriers around him to smoulder and burn slowly.

The Doctor's eyes widened. He knew what Fawkes was about to do. "No wait, Fawkes, wait a minute!"

But The Doctor's pleas fell on deaf ears as Fawkes quickly took off into the air and made a hasty dash for the window, a trail of flames dancing behind him. Seeing that Fawkes was heading right towards him, The Doctor ducked just as the fiery bird was about to make contact with the window.

The window shattered and a small ball of fire erupted as Fawkes crashed through it and zoomed up into the sky. The Doctor scurried back onto his feet and hurtled through the broken window, running on the courtyard before coming to a halt at the edge of the crater.

"Fawkes!"

But it was too late, he was already gone.

What The Doctor saw next made him almost stiff. In the far, far distance, a massive spaceship had suddenly come into orbit. The ship was long and cylindrical in design, the exact size of a tower block when looking at it closely. It made no attempt to get closer to the Earth, it's where it needed to be.

The Doctor knew that ship all too well, he had seen dozens of them as they marched towards him on the Moon.

It was a Judoon ship, which meant something worse was yet to come.

And… that's it for the first chapter. I gotta say, this was an interesting opening chapter to write. I never wrote for the Rio franchise before so I hope I have gotten the characters right. If I haven't, well I apologise for that.

So what does the Judoon want with poor Fawkes? Well you're gonna wait a while till the next chapter to find out.

Next month, I'll be heading back to the Spyro universe with an update to my ongoing story 'Love of My Life. Then hopefully the month after that, this will be updated.

Until then… this is TARDIS1039, signing off… Allons-y!