Amazon Adventures

Chapter Twenty: Tropical Terror

In the middle of the afternoon, Bia, Carla and Tiago were eating some berries together.

"Mmm, good stuff." Tiago grinned.

"You know, it's almost the end of October." Bia declared. "If we were still living with Linda and Tulio, we'd be celebrating Halloween about now."

"Oh, yeah." Carla nodded. "I loved all those little costumes Linda used to make us."

"Yeah, and all those spooky decorations." Tiago added. "Not that they ever scared me, that is..."

"Oh, really?" Bia smirked. "Remember those plastic bats a couple of years back? They nearly scared you right out of your feathers!"

"Did not!" Tiago shot back. "I was just... pretending to be scared!"

"You're a heck of an actor then, T." Carla snickered. "I totally bought it. Especially when you screamed 'MOMMY'!"

Tiago pouted angrily as Bia and Carla giggled.

"Did I hear that right?" Antonio suddenly descended on them. "Did the little pineapple head really get scared by some fake bats?"

"Butt out, Atonio." Carla growled, instantly leaping to her little brother's defense.

"If you thought some plastic bats were scary, you'd probably freak out at what I just heard." Antonio smrked.

"And what exactly did you just hear?" Bia frowned.

"You know that little valley, off to the west?" Antonio asked. "They say there's a monster there."

"A monster?" Tiago gulped.

"Oh, yeah." Antonio nodded. "A monster known as the barrel-beaked beast-bird."

"I've never heard of such a creature." Bia said sceptically. "And besides, monsters don't exist."

"This one does." Antonio sneered. "It has huge wings, long talons that scrape along tree branches as it walks, and a giant beak that could swallow you whole."

"...Whole?" Tiago gulped.

"Oh, yeah." Antonio nodded. "When it's hungry, it clacks it's beak together. And it sounds like this..."

Antonio threw back his head and let a blood-curdling screech.

"Oh, please." Carla snorted. "You really expect us to believe this garbage?"

"You don't have to." Antonio shrugged. "Go to the valley and see for yourselves. Unless, of course, you're scared?"

"Hey, we're not scared!" Tiago yelled.

"Prove it." Antonio sneered. "Fly over to the valley and check it out for yourself. There's a funny-colored orchid that grows there. Bring one of those back as proof."

"A rare orchid..." Bia mused, thinking of adding it to her collection.

"Well, are you macaws, or are you chickens?" Antonio leaned forward. "Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"Oh, we're macaws, all right." Carla glared. "We'll go to that valley with the so-called monster. If only to get you off our case."

"You'd better." Antonio glared. "Or else I'll tell everyone what chickens you three are."

"Well, that's not completely immature at all." Bia sniped.

"Good luck." Antonio grinned.

And with that, Antonio flew off.

"W-we're not really gonna go there, are we?" Tiago trembled.

"Oh, we are." Carla declared. "I'm not letting that jerk think his dumb little story scared us."

"But what if he was telling the truth?" Tiago gulped.

"Highly unlikely." Bia snorted. "I know every species in the Amazon, and there is no such thing as a barrel-beaked beast-bird."

"Exactly." Carla nodded. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"I'm not afraid!" Tiago insisted.

"Of course you're not." Bia rolled her eyes. "And you don't have to be. All we have to do is go to this monster-less valley, and bring back an orchid. Simple."

"Yeah, simple." Tiago nodded.

They flew over to the valley together. It was a small, quiet place. No birds roosted there, due to how close it once was to the loggers' path of destruction.

"Here we are." Carla declared. "And surprise, surprise: there's no 'barrel-beaked beast-bird' to be seen."

"I told you so." Bia smiled. "'Barrel-beaked beast-bird'... Please."

"Okay." Tiago nodded, his courage bolstered, by the lack of a monster. "Let's go find that orchid and get outta here."

Finding the orchid wasn't too difficult; There were several of them at the rear of the valley.

"What a fascinating specimen..." Bia picked one of them up.

"Okay, orchid found." Carla declared. "And not a monster in sight."

"Yeah, I knew it was all a hoax." Tiago blustered. "Dumb Antonio, thinkin' he can scare us..."

Suddenly, they heard a rustling sound.

"...What was that?" Tiago gulped.

"Relax, T." Carla rolled her eyes. "It was probably just the wind."

They then heard what sounded like the flapping of giant wings.

"You hear that?" Tiago trembled. "It's the barrel-beaked beast-bird!"

"Impossible." Bia shook her head in disbelief. "There's no such thing!"

A loud clacking sound echoed through the valley.

"That sounds like a barrel-beak to me." Tiago quivered. "I don't wanna be swallowed whole!"

"It's probably nothing." Carla said, but not with much confidence. "You know what kind of weird sounds you hear in the jungle-"

A bloodcurdling screech filled the air.

"AAAHH!" Tiago screamed. "It is the barrel-beaked beast-bird!"

"Can't be." Bia insisted. "It's not possible."

"Less talk, more flying." Carla urged. "Let's beat it!"

The trio flew off as fast as they could, only stopping once they were outside the valley.

"That... was... close!" Tiago gasped.

"I don't believe it." Bia declared. "It's real. How can it be real?"

"Just be glad we got away." Carla declared. "And that we got the orchid. Means we don't have to go back in."

At that moment, another sound emanated from the valley. It wasn't a scary sound, but a sound of amusement. Someone was laughing.

"What the-" Carla turned around. "What's so funny?"

"You're not thinking of going back there, are you?" Tiago trembled. "The barrel-beaked beast-bird'll get ya!"

"If there really is a monster in there, then why is someone laughing?" Bia wondered.

Carla and Bia flew back towards the valley. Tiago, after a moment's hesitation, followed.

"If I get eaten, they're so gonna pay!" He muttered.

As they flew back into the valley, they saw Antonio perched on a tree branch, laughing hysterically. Two large fronds (used to mimic wing flaps) and a hollow branch (a makeshift megaphone) laid next to him. At Carla's urging, they stopped and hid.

"Dumb babies!" Antonio snickered loudly. "Can't believe they fell for that! Barrel-beaked beast-bird, hah! What a bunch of losers! Ha-ha-ha!"

"Why, that sneaky-!" Carla growled.

"He set us up!" Tiago realised.

"I can't believe I actually thought there was a monster here!" Bia shook her head, ashamed of herself. "That rotten bird..."

"Well, he's not gonna get away with it." Carla announced, her eyes narrowing.

"I know that look." Tiago smirked. "What do ya have in mind, sis?"

"We give that jerk a taste of his own medicine." Carla picked up some sticks. "Follow my lead, guys."

Meanwhile, Antonio was still gloating.

"Anyone with half a brain wouldn't believe in monsters." He snorted.

Carla started scraping her sticks against the side of the tree.

"Huh?" Antonio frowned, looking around for the source of the noise.

Tiago grabbed some nuts, and started tapping them against a branch, mimicking the rhythm of footsteps.

"Who's there?" Antonio demanded.

Bia shook another branch, causing the leaves to make a rustling sound.

"Whoever's doing that, it isn't funny!" Antonio quivered.

Carla spotted a hollow, fallen log on the ground. She signalled her siblings to follow, and flew down to it.

"I am the barrel-beaked bird-beast!" She yelled into the log, causing her voice to be projected in a distorted fashion. "And you, little red one, have trespassed into my territory!

"N-no!" Antonio trembled. "I made you up! You're not real!"

"Oh, no?" Carla nodded to Tiago.

Tiago clapped the nuts together over the logs, projecting the clacking sound over the valley.

"Th-the clacking beak..." Antonio gulped.

"Is that real enough for you?" Carla boomed. "How about this?"

Carla nodded to Bia, who scraped a stick along the inside of the log.

"I can't wait to get my talons into you!" Carla yelled.

"No, p-please..." Antonio begged.

"Three, two, one..." Carla counted off.

At "one", the chicks threw their heads into the log and screeched as loud as they could.

"AAAAHHHH!" Antonio yelped as he flew out of the valley as fast as he could. "MOMMYYY!"

The Spix's macaw siblings fell about laughing.

"Who's the chicken now?" Tiago chuckled.

"That'll teach him." Bia tittered.

"Nice work, guys." Carla smiled. "At least this wasn't a total waste of time."

"And I got a new specimen for my collection." Bia held up the orchid.

Tiago's stomach rumbled.

"All that action's made me hungry." He declared. "Time for another berry stop!"

Before long, they were back where they started; Enjoying some juicy berries.

"So much for the 'barrel-beaked beast-bird'." Bia sneered. "I knew it wasn't real."

"Hey, guys?" Tiago said solemnly. "I know I said I wasn't scared back there, but... I totally was."

"We all were, T." Carla patted him on the back. "No big deal."

"Carla's right." Bia nodded. "Even the bravest birds get scared sometimes."

"Besides, I'm betting Antonio was scared than all of us put together." Carla chuckled.

"Oh, yeah." Tiago snickered. "Thanks, guys. You're the best sisters ever."

"Lucky for you, huh?" Carla smiled, as she pulled her siblings in for a hug. "As long as we stick together, jerks like Antonio can't ever hurt us."

"And that's a fact." Bia grinned.

To Be Continued...

(Rio 2 and all associated characters are the property of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox.)