Chapter 7 'The Escape'
Sup ma ninjaz, its chapter 7 of this story which I may actually finish. I would like you all to LiKe CoMmEnT sUbScRiBe ecksdee.
Anyways, Banana Phone. Additionally, I have gotten some inspiration from 'From Whence They Came', by Count Doofus. This chapter will be a rather long one, about 2500 words long.
This takes place immediately after chapter 6, and I know I should've placed the Linda and Fred dinner scene at the start, or near the start, but I didn't. So sue me.
Anyways, lets get on with it! Enjoy or suffer.
Linda and Fred had arrived at the aviary, and Linda broke down crying.
''Oh Blu, we should've never left Moose Lake! This is all my fault…'', Linda cried. Fred saw this and tried to comfort her, he placed his hand on her shoulder and stood next to her.
''Hey, its not your fault…'', Fred said to her.
''You're right…It isn't my fault…Its your fault! With your whole 'sAvE tHe SpEcIeS' thing, and now I lost my Blu!'', Linda yelled at him.
''Technically, it's the fault of the people who kidnapped them…'', Fred defended.
''Well, I know, but-'', Linda responded.
''Then it isn't my fault. Even IF it was, I will help you find Blu.'', Fred cut her off. Linda calmed down.
''Sorry for getting angry at you…'', she apologised.
''Its alright, and perfectly understandable, considering you lost someone you love. But I will fight tooth and nail to get him home safe and sound.'', Fred forgave her.
The two turned their attention towards the guard, who was being interviewed by police.
''So let me get this straight: You, were overpowered and sedated by a black cockatoo, a bird that is likely an 80th your size, and a sixth your height...'', the officer questioned him.
''Yes, and he did it like this:'', the guard said. He held the handkerchief of chloroform up to his mouth and nose to demonstrate. He passed out in the process. The officer grabbed the handkerchief, and gave it a sniff. He too, despite chloroforms not being powerful enough to knock you out that quickly in either case, passed out.
''We're doomed…'', Linda commented.
''Remind me to hire someone with a spine and a functioning brain.'', Fred remarked...
Blu started getting nervous, and started rocking back and forth. He began whistling, and making clicking and beeping noises. This moved onto speech, and soft, fearful squawks mixed between. Jewel snapped him out of it,
''Hey Blu, Blu! Stop it, are you alright?'', she shook him. Blu snapped out of it, and looked at Jewel,
''I'm alright…I just do that when I'm scared/anxious. I don't know why.'', Blu told her.
''Oh, okay. But when you do that, it scares me.'', Jewel responded.
The two sat in silence, it was a melancholic moment, but a certain individual would spice things up…
The door suddenly opened, and the birds started quivering as the huge parrot walked past the cages. It was Nigel. He is a Palm Cockatoo- the largest parrot in Australia. Despite being 60% the length of a Hyacinth, Palm cockatoos weigh a similar amount, ranging from 0.9kg-1.2kg, which is exceptionally large for a parrot. He has a large crest and bill, with red patches on the side of his face and a black plumage. He appears to have some rough patches, and some scratches on his beak. All in all, he is an intimidating bird. Blu and Jewel are glad to be Blue cockatoos, in the sense that Nigel doesn't dwarf them, even though he appears to be an unusually large Palm cockatoo. Parakeets and lorikeets must feel like midgets in comparison to him.
He held a chicken bone, which he rattled beside the cage bars, in a manner that is similar to Freddy Krueger. Minus the fact that Nigel isn't a dream demon who was once a paedophilic child murderer, who was burned to death by angry parents. Nigel turned to a cage,
''Hmm, it appears I have a piece of chicken lodged in my beak. Would you mind?'', he said to the cage full of lorikeets. He put his beak near the cage, and had it open. One of the birds reluctantly dislodged it, and Nigel snapped it shut. The lorikeet pulled it away just before he had it chomped off.
''Ta.'' (thank you), he said to the bird, and he continued on. His attention focused to the two Blu cockatoos. He flew up to their cage, and landed on it with a screech that transitioned into ''Hello, cocky!'', Blu and Jewel flinched in fright, as Nigel cackled.
''Oops, sorry, didn't mean to scare you.'', he sarcastically said, and chuckled afterwards.
''That wasn't even funny!'', Blu cried out in a desperate 'Oh come on!' manner, (I can't explain it)
''It sure was, little bluey. Oh, you two should get some sleep, its past your bedtime. Besides, tomorrow will be a big day!'', Nigel told them, ''Oh the next week ought to be fun…Do you like fun? Because I do, and this week will be fun…very, very fun…Sweet dreams, blue birdies.'', Nigel said with malice, and cackled afterwards. He flew out of the room.
''This is why I could never be a villain- I don't laugh at my own jokes.'', Blu commented and chuckled lightly. He froze, ''Shit…'', he added.
Jewel wasn't pleased with the situation, and started to breathe heavily.
''Are you okay?'', Blu asked.
''Oh, I am definitely NOT OKAY!'', she answered, as she began swinging their cage.
''I've read that in survival situations, you shouldn't panic.'', Blu told her.
''Now's the perfect time to panic! We're held in this cage, god knows where, and I'm chained to you and we have that evil bird! And if we stay here, we WILL die!'', Jewel countered. Blu noticed that their cage was a bolt lock,
''Jewel stop! It's a simple sliding lock.'', Blu told her. Jewel stopped, and looked at Blu grabbing the end of the bolt, sliding it, and knocking it upwards.
''Being a pet has its benefits…'', Blu smugly said. He opened the cage, and Jewel immediately flew off, but Blu couldn't fly. She flew out the window, and Blu narrowly avoided hitting his head on the windowsill.
''Jewel stop, I can't fly!'', Blu cried out as he was swung around and his weight dragged Jewel down. They crashed onto the lawn, just shy of the fence. Luckily, they weren't hurt.
''Why didn't you tell me this earlier?'', Jewel said, annoyed.
''I didn't have the nerve to…'', Blu said in shame, ''But we're out of the house, all we have to do is climb over that fence and make our way back to the aviary.'', Blu added, thinking positively.
''I like the first part, but I don't like the whole 'going back to the aviary'. You can do that, while I go to the wild, where I belong.'', Jewel told him.
''But we're chained together.'', Blu countered.
''Well, I think we should go to the wild, get help, and get us unchained. You can go back to Linda, and I can stay in the wild. Deal?'', Jewel suggested.
''Will you escort me back to the aviary when we're unchained?'', Blu asked.
''Fine, because otherwise you'd get lost.'', Jewel agreed.
''Okay then. Deal.'', Blu agreed. Blu and Jewel shook talons, and they climbed over the fence.
''Make sure we walk on the sidewalk, because the street has cars that can run us over.'', Blu told Jewel. They walked on the footpath at a fast pace. Jewel saw the mountains nearby,
''Lets head there, follow me.'', Jewel said.
Meanwhile, (takes place just before Blu and Jewel reach the forest)
Aaron decided to check on the birds, and noticed the window was open, and the Blue cockatoos were gone.
''Oh shit…'', he muttered. He hurried to the loungeroom, where Francis, Troy, and Nigel sat down and watched T.V
''Hey mates, the two cockatoos are gone.'', Aaron announced.
''You're shitting me.'', Francis said.
''Nope, come see for yourself.'', Aaron said. They walked to the room, and Francis saw the empty cage. He sighed,
''There were two birds, chained together, in a cage…HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU LOSE THEM?!'', Francis yelled.
''We don't know…'', Aaron said.
''Yeah, I go for 10 minutes and you guys manage to lose our million dollar birds.'', Francis said in disappointment.
''Don't worry boss, I have a plan!'', Troy told him.
''Let me guess: You wander around the streets of Cairns calling ''Here birdie birdie, here birdie birdie!''. Or-or you have a cage, and there's a big neon sign with arrows pointing to it saying ''FREE SEEDS!''. You guys have the situational awareness' of a fucking sponge. The kind you use to wash dishes, by the way. A SEA sponge would still have you beat.'', Francis mocked them, ''Oh I'm sure if we asked nicely!'', Francis continued by imitating them.
''Well, anything sounds dumb when you say it like that!'', Troy chuckled. Francis stared at him, dumbfounded.
''You fucking spasticated fuckwit! You know what, these two birds each twice as smart as the two of you combined!'', Francis yelled at them.
''Oh yeah, if they're so smart, why don't you put them in charge?'', Troy snidely remarked.
''Oh, I am!'', Francis said.
''Quit suggesting things!'', Aaron slapped Troy and quietly exclaimed. Francis had two blue feathers, belonging to Blu and Jewel respectively. He went up to the second bird he owned, Ivan the Wedge Tailed Eagle.
''See these? I want you to find those Blue cockatoos and bring them back here, ALIVE. Nigel will help you. Now go!'', he said to Ivan. He passed the feathers to him, and sent him on his way.
''Now, for you two, your share of the profits will be reduced a bit. If you detest, they will be removed entirely. Got it?'', Francis turned to the two goons.
''How much?'', asked Aaron.
''About 18% each.'',
''Why that number specifically?'', asked Aaron.
''Oh, want me to round it off to 20%?'', Francis snidely asked.
''No, no…Its cool…We're fine with an 18% reduction…'', Aaron and Troy quickly said, and nervously smiled.
''Good.'', Francis responded.
(Back with Blu and Jewel)
The two made their way to the forest edge, which took them about an hour, and they both were exhausted.
''Yes, we're home!'', Jewel exclaimed as she charged into the forest.
''You meant to say, 'I'm home', because this isn't my home.'', Blu corrected her, as he ran beside her.
''Yeah, sure.'', Jewel said. The two continued their walk further into the rainforest.
The foliage grew denser, and they approached an ephemeral creek.
Blu was shaking in fear, and his crest was sticking up a bit. Jewel's crest lay flat, and she appeared to be at home. She took a deep breathe,
''Ahhhh, home, sweet home…'', she sighed happily, ''I'm so glad to be out of that fake rainforest.'', Jewel added.
''You weren't kidding when you said it was nothing like the real deal. Not your exact words, but still.'', Blu commented. Nearby the creek was a dirt walking trail. Blu took notice of this,
''Judging from that trail, we are probably in some national park or forest reserve.'', Blu told Jewel.
''I have no idea what a national park is.'', Jewel said.
''Its a piece of land set aside by humans to be preserved and protected for a multitude of reasons.'', Blu told her.
''Yeah right, 'protect'. You can't trust humans. Before you know it, they'll just cut it down. They don't care about any of the animals that live there.'', Jewel said.
''No, believe me, National Parks are safe from humans. Because humans still value natural beauty, and that's why the first one was established all the way back in 1872. It is Yellowstone National Park, although the first national park to be called so was Royal National Park, in Sydney, established in 1879. Today there are thousands of national parks, forest reserve, native reserves, marine parks, and game reserves across the world. In fact, humans have set aside an entire continent larger than all of Australia.'', Blu told her.
''But you can never be too sure…'', Jewel added.
''Its okay, besides, this place is a UNESCO World heritage site.'', Blu added.
''What's that?'', Jewel asked.
''Its an international organisation whose goal it is to preserve important places, both natural and man-made. For example, this is apart of the Gondwanaland Rainforests, which span a large chunk of the east coast. There are more world heritage sites that are man-made, mainly in Europe.'', Blu told her.
''That's weird, I never thought they would do that…'', Jewel said, ''Also how do you know all this?'', she asked.
''In Moose Lake, I have nothing better to do than read books and watch documentaries. I just love learning all about things.'', Blu answered.
Jewel saw a tree, and it had a hollow. They could stay there for the night.
''We should stay there.'', Jewel said.
''No thanks, I don't like heights. And I'd feel comfortable in something more man-made.'', Blu said, pointing to a gazebo/lookout.
''Fine.'', Jewel reluctantly agreed. They headed over there, and climbed up the stairs. They approached the railing,
''Ugh, I can't believe I have to drag your ass all the way up.'', Jewel complained.
''Wrong.'', Blu said, and before Jewel could reply, Blu darted up the railing, and dragged Jewel up. Blu lied down on a support beam, and Jewel rested on the railing.
''Who's dragging who's ass now?'', Blu remarked.
''Haha, very funny.'', Jewel responded sarcastically.
''Being unable to fly has its benefits, in the fact I'm a good runner and climber.'', Blu told her, ''See, who needs flying?'', Blu added.
''Birds. Birds need flying. Flying…is freedom, and not having to rely on anyone. Flying is being able to go wherever, whenever you want, anywhere, anytime. Its being able to see the world from above, and being free…Like a bird is meant to be. Don't you want that?'', Jewel responded, and ended it in a soft tone.
Blu sat there for a moment, what she said was true, and Blu knew it.
''Yeah…Yeah, I do…'', Blu said sadly. He let out a sigh, ''I take back my comment earlier…I really, really want to fly...'', Blu sadly added. Jewel looked up at him, and saw his eyes water up a bit.
''Hey, its okay…Before you reunite with Linda, I'll teach you how to fly…I don't want anyone missing out on it.'', Jewel softly said.
''Thank you…'', Blu thanked her, and cracked a warm smile, to which Jewel smiled back to.
''Goodnight, Jewel.'', Blu said to Jewel.
''Goodnight, Blu.'', Jewel said back.
''Goodnight Linda…'', Blu softly whispered, as he closed his eyes, and went to sleep…
THE KAMBUSCHA MUSHROOM PEOPLE
That wraps up chapter 7, and you better have enjoyed it, because I know who you are, and where you live…And I will find you…
Anyways, I hope you liked this rather long chapter. Next chapter will be out soon, and it may or may not be as long as this chapter. By the way, that line at the start of this section (The Kambuscha mushroom people) is from 'Sugar', by System Of A Down, a band that I really like.
Until next time, goodbye.