Chapter three: Say your goodbyes…
Blu headed towards the center of their colony to meet up with Eduardo. He found him sitting on a tree branch alongside Roberto and few other Spix macaws. They were ready to head out to search for supplies.
"Oh there you are." greeted Eduardo with a much better mood than he had in the morning.
"Yes sir, ready to depart. But before that, I would like to inform you of something." replied Blu with confidence.
"Is that so?" Eduardo looked at Blu with curiosity.
"Yes. Few minutes from here is a beautiful mango grove. There isn´t much to take, but I figured it would be a good start." said Blu with a small smile.
"Ok. That is definitely good news. At least we have our starting point. How did you even find it in the first place?" asked Eduardo.
"Well, I didn´t. Bia told me about it and I remembered it after our morning conversation." replied Blu with pride.
"Alright, let´s get to it." Eduardo turned his attention to others. "Listen up, Blu just told me, that there is a mango grove a few minutes from here. I hope I don´t have to remind you, how every food source is important to us right now, so we will start there. We will split up. Me and Blu will lead the first group and we will go collect food from that grove. Roberto will take the rest and will search for other sources deeper in the jungle." said Eduardo and two smaller groups were already prepared for takeoff.
"Blu, take the lead." said Eduardo with trust in his eyes.
"Will do sir." replied Blu and went in the direction of a mango grove. Eduardo and the rest of their group followed. While Roberto and his group took a different direction.
It didn´t take long and Blu alongside his companions landed on a tree branch in their destination.
"I must admit Blu, I underestimated you and treated you wrong. I never imagined that we would find food so close to our new home. Well done." said Eduardo and even smiled a bit.
Blu smiled back and replied: "Well let´s get to it, shall we?"
"With pleasure. Tony, take others and start harvesting. Me and Blu will scout around." ordered Eduardo.
"Sure thing Boss. Let´s go boys." said Tony and entered the grove alongside others.
"Let´s take a small flight Blu." said Eduardo and was ready to take off, but Blu stopped him.
"But sir, shouldn´t I stay and help to harvest? After all, I have a debt to repay." said Blu with a sad face.
"But Blu, you are already repaying it, can´t you see that. We would find this grove, but much later. Now we can supply the colony with fresh food. And to be honest, you are not built for this kind of work. You are much more valuable as a seeker. You will scout around, look for food, and once you find it, you will report back to harvesting group and continue." explained Eduardo.
"If you think that is the best way for me to help, I am more than happy to accept." replied Blu with a smile.
"Now let´s go look around." said Eduardo and headed for in a jungle with Blu behind him.
"Aw Blu, you are kind of big bowling ass, aren´t you?" said an unknown macaw that was hidden in a treetop.
"Well let´s see how tough you really are." said an unknown bird sitting next to the macaw. "Go and do your job!" ordered.
"I thought you wanted to be the one to take his life." said the macaw.
"I did, but I can´t risk blowing my cover. So the pleasure is all yours. Make sure that Eduardo is not a problem anymore." replied the bird.
"And what about that scumbag Blu?" asked the macaw.
"Do whatever you want to him, I don´t care." replied the bird.
"That is exactly what I wanted to hear." said the macaw with an evil grin and followed Eduardo and Blu into the jungle.
"You better make this right or your cover is blown." said the bird to himself.
Eduardo and Blu were flying not that far away from the mango grove when Blu said: "Once I got used to this place I must admit, it really is beautiful."
"Well, it indeed I…." Eduardo stopped in the middle of his sentence and quickly headed to the ground. Blu was confused but followed.
"What is wrong sir?" asked Blu.
They both hid in a bush and Eduardo whispered: "Someone is watching us, I can feel it in my bones."
Blu started searching the area with his eyes. It took him only a moment to spot their uninvited guest.
"Sir. 12 o´clock, 75o, there is a strange silhouette." whispered Blu, pointing in a direction he described.
"Show yourself coward!" shouted Eduardo in direction Blu pointed at.
"Me? A coward?! You never learn from your mistakes, now do you Eduardo?" replied unknow macaw.
"That voice. It sounds almost like…" Blu thought to himself.
"I said show yourself! Whoever you are!" shouted Eduardo while exiting his hiding spot.
"But of course. Then here I GO!" macaw spread his wings and left his cover, landing a few meters before Eduardo.
"NO, that can´t be true. That voice and even that camo…MARCO?!" Blu thought to himself.
The macaw that landed before them was about the same height as Blu. His feathers were covered in many colors. He had black color painted across his eye and one strip that was coming from his forehead back to his shoulders. It was without a doubt, Marco.
"Stay back Blu, I will hand him myself!" ordered Eduardo and charged at Marco.
"SIR WAIT!" shouted Blu, but it was too late.
Both opponents crashed into each other. Eduardo tried to hit his opponent with his talons but was blocked every time he tried. Eduardo bet everything on one last move. He jumped and hit his opponent with both his talons. But Marco managed to block his attack and was ready for the counter. After Eduardo exhausted himself, Marco started counter-attack. Eduardo was too slow to block his talons. Marco landed a few blows to his mid-section and few others onto the head, knocking Eduardo down. Marco was ready for his grand Finale. One last deadly attack. He used his wings to get into the air and aimed both of his talons towards Eduardo.
This attack didn´t land. It was blocked by a new member of this deadly fight – Blu. Blu managed to block Marco's attack by using his own talons. From his eyes, you could read his courage to protect his new family at all costs.
"It is nice to see you try this hard Blu, but don´t worry, after I finished him, I planned on going after you, and take your life as well. Give it up, it is futile." said Marco.
"Nothing I do is futile. If you try hard enough, you can do anything!" replied Blu, preparing for a fight in his battle stance.
"If you say so…" said Marco and charged at Blu.
Blu managed to block a few of his blows, but it still wasn´t enough. He soon got knocked down as well.
"Time to end this Eduardo…" said Marco and swung his talons in direction of Eduardo´s throat.
Eduardo closed his eyes and awaited his death. But the blow didn´t land. Eduardo opened his eyes and saw Blu. On his leg, a stream of blood started to flow. Eduardo gasped as he saw Blu´s body collapse.
"Is this how it will end? All I wanted was to protect my family. Nothing more. Nothing less. I miss home. Miss my friends back in Rio. Even Minnesota. Why would you do this Marco? You seemed like a good fella. Your fighting was nothing like I´ve ever seen. Your fighting…it´s different. Those moves are nothing like what you showed me. Well, I guess it doesn´t matter anymore. It´s cold. Jewel. Kids. I am sorry." Blu thought as his eyes were slowly closing. He then looked at Marco's right wing.
"That scar. Where is that scar?" was Blu´s last thought before closing his eyes.
"BLU!Open your eyes. Please open them!" shouted Eduardo.
"Aww come one Blu, you party crasher. This is not how I imagined killing you. No fair." said Marco with a maniacal grin on his face.
Eduardo heard flapping of wings. It sounded like only one bird. Another guest joined the fight.
Next chapter: Took you long enough…