"Mimi," Jewel said in a firm tone. Her aunt had been dodging her question for a few days, and Jewel was getting frustrated.
"What happened to Mom?" She asked for the umpteenth time. Mimi sighed, finding no way to weasel out of the question, now that she asked so directly. Besides, she couldn't be kept in the dark forever.
"Jewel, she was devastated after she lost you," Mimi started. "Crystal became so easily frustrated, and wouldn't talk to anyone for such a long time. And when she finally did, she did so to declare to Eduardo that she was leaving the tribe," Mimi continued sadly.
Jewel's face seemed to lighten up with hope from her previous dark mood, and she frantically shot a question at Mimi.
"She's still alive?"
Mimi looked momentarily shocked at her reaction, not too sure what to say to her. A lone macaw with questionable sanity all on her own outside, what were the chances? Not to mention that she was still hiding something from Jewel, and Mimi hoped with all her heart that she would never need to know.
Caio groaned as he got up in the morning with aching muscles. He shivered as a tingle went through his body, from the reserves of yesterday's events. He smiled dreamily at the thought recalled memory, mostly about a specific someone's laugh. It was directed at him though. His parents were long out, leaving him to his own devices. Again. He lightened up as he remembered a piece of information that was simply crucial to him. He spread out his numb wings, and took flight, almost stumbling in the process.
"How's the view?" Crash asked, poking Bia's wing. It was one of 'those' days, where Bia had to babysit the twins. Within a few minutes, the two had tied her up, and suspended her upside down from the ceiling. A vine held both of Bia's talons, and Crash's action caused her to start spinning very slowly as the vine turned.
"The view's great," she replied with an unamused face, with her wings crossed as she blankly looked forward.
"When can I get down?" Bia asked, still wearing her emotionless look.
"You're unable to do it yourself?" Dash mocked, and pushed her hard. Bia sighed as she involuntarily rocked from side to side as the twins pushed her like a swing. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and...
"How's the view?" Someone asked. The twins paused, and turned to look, but Bia couldn't turn to see who it was in her suspended state.
"What? Who is that?" She struggled to look, but the vines rocked the wrong way, and her efforts were futile.
"Hey, it's Caio!" Dash pointed out. Bia grumbled upon hearing it, and glared at a wall, imagining Caio's smug face.
"Real original joke. Even the twins made it before you," Bia commented.
"What are you doing here?" Crash asked, facing in a direction where Bia assumed where Caio was.
"Was checking on you two of course," he laughed, and Bia rolled her eyes.
"Wait, didn't we agree on a nickname for Caio?" Crash asked his brother, and the two smiled evilly as they recalled.
"How do you two still remember after all that time?" Caio stared in disbelief, slightly embarrassed to see that Bia was about to hear what the twins would call him.
"Oh, we can always remember our babysitters," Dash smirked.
"Just like we remember you, Pineapple," Crash laughed, along with Bia and Dash. Caio stared in annoyance, but his expression couldn't hide the deep blush that was forming at the sound of Bia's laughter.
"Pineapple?" Bia asked dubiously, still snickering.
"I used to have this extra crest feather, and my head looked like the top of a pineapple," Caio explained without really thinking. He silently groaned and smacked his forehead as he realized what he just did.
"Hey!" Crash noticed his beetroot face, and went closer. "He's as red as a scarlet macaw!"
"Aw, is this too embarrassing for you?" Bia asked upside down, still with her back turned.
"He... Er... Must be talking about my face paint," Caio lied, grabbing Crash and placing a wing over his beak. Crash grumbled in his muffle, and squirmed around, while Dash laughed at his brother.
"Guys, at least turn me around?" Bia sighed, still forced to stare at a wall.
"But I thought you liked the wall," Dash teased. The first thing Bia had to do was grab Crash before he rammed into a wall.
"When's Daniel coming back?" Caio asked. Unlike most of the families, where the parents took turns to take care of the children, Daniel was the one that was stuck with the responsibility most of the time, and he pushes it to someone else just as often.
"Well, maybe in ten minutes or so," Bia replied, roughly estimating the timing. "Can you guys please untie me? This is getting really annoying, and I think I can feel my head bursting."
"Tiago, this feels...wrong, and dangerous," Carla fussed, refusing to go forward.
"Oh come on, it's just the outskirts! Don't you wanna see outside the land?" Tiago peered beyond the trees, trying to spot something interesting. Tiago and Carla were exploring around the borders, and not, they were at an area where the land was supposedly unoccupied. It was still in the sanctuary though.
"No I don't. Nothing's more beautiful than the waterfall in our home isn't it," Carla stated with confidence.
"We'll never know unless we see for ourselves," Tiago reasoned.
"Shh, wait, did you hear that?" Carla hushed, looking in a direction. It sounded like faint chanting and cheering.
"This way!" Tiago shot toward the noise, with Carla following closely.
"Tiago! We're supposed to go away from the weird noises!" Carla hissed in frustration as her brother shot forward.
"Just relax for once," Tiago grumbled, and continued forward. They were definitely out of the boundary by a significant amount, and Carla didn't like it one bit.
"Look," Tiago stared, landing quietly on a branch. Carla landed just as stealthily, peering at the scene. Both were dazed by the events unfolding before them. A ragged Spix's macaw was growling at a yellow macaw, and the two were surrounded by crowds of birds and bats, all of different sizes and species. It was like a coliseum. The crowds were a forbidding bunch, all with unruly feathers or hair, cheering rowdily at one of the two in the middle. Carla and Tiago watched in horror as the yellow macaw lunged forward, commencing the fight. The Spix's macaw swerved to a side, avoiding her opponent's clawing talons, and bit into his tail, hard. The yellow macaw screeched in pain, and his ability to fly was compromised as the Spix's macaw savagely ripped out a large cluster of feathers together. Before the yellow macaw could react, the Spix's macaw head butted her opponent, causing him to fall backward. He quickly got up, standing his ground, while the other took advantage of her ability to fly. The Spix's macaw dived from the sky with outstretched talons, and the yellow macaw attempted to dodge, but one of the talons scraped from his shoulder to his chest. He ignored the pain, and bit onto his attacker's talon, and swung her against the ground.
"What is this?" Carla whispered, shivering at the sight of the brutal fight. Tiago was speechless, shocked by the whole thing. His eyes were uncontrollably glued to the fight, although he flinched when either one was hurt.
As the fight continued, it became clear that the yellow macaw's initial injury was becoming a major disadvantage as his opponent dived from the sky again and again. Carla gasped in horror as she realized that the two were going to fight to the death.
"Tiago! We need to get out of here!" She pulled him hard, and he snapped out of his shocked trance, and flew toward the Spix's macaw tribe home with Carla, both shaken by the situation.
Back at the battle, the yellow macaw was severely crippled. Gashes and long, jagged scratches covered a worrying amount of his body. Blood was drying up on his feathers, changing some of his yellow coat into a dirty brown.
"Face it, you've lost," the Spix's macaw growled, stepping closer, ready to finish the job.
"I'd rather die than serve you," he growled, standing his ground even with all his injuries.
"Stubbornness will be the end of you."
His weakened physique couldn't defend against the last blow. Parts of the crowd cheered, while others muttered in disappointment. The Spix's macaw looked up in triumph, taking a deep breath.
The smell of victory.
"Popop!"
A frantic cry distracted Eduardo and Blu and they turned to look, shocked at the call. Tiago and Carla landed, panting.
"Oh my goodness, what's wrong? You look like ghosts!" Blu fussed over the two, bending down so that he could check if they had any visible injury.
"We saw a group of birds outside the territory, and we saw one of us fighting a yellow macaw, while the rest around them were cheering!" Carla gasped, all in one go.
"What species are the birds?" Eduardo asked, his feathers suddenly spiking.
"We don't know...Many types...there were even some bats," Tiago wheezed, doubled over, panting for air.
"The Outcasts," Eduardo murmured.
"Ou..Outcasts?" Blu stammered, hoping that they weren't what they sounded like.
"Call a meeting. Send someone to inform Felipe to join in. Things are getting serious."
"Just about an hour ago, members of my tribe spotted the Outcast encampment," Eduardo started the meeting, and upon the mention of 'Outcast', there were mutters of worry.
"How close?" Felipe asked.
"Too close for comfort. It's within the zone of the human sanctuary," Eduardo replied gravely.
"And here's the news. My members didn't just see an encampment. They witnessed a power seize, and from their descriptions, it seems like a new Outcast leader has prevailed."
There was an uproar. The Outcasts were a ragtag tribe of rejected birds and bats, that banded together for the sake of safety in numbers. While the bat tribes were aggressive in nature, they were at the very least, reasonable and honorable. The Outcasts were easily twice as aggressive, highly unreasonable and unpredictable. And that was with their old leader. Now that a new leader has emerged, the threat of being attacked is fresh. The Outcasts didn't use to be such a problem, but when the Pit of Doom matches were implemented to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, there were several angry macaws that were completely unsatisfied with the solution, and they were expelled from their tribes. That, or they left the tribe on their own. Since then, the Outcasts stopped their pacifist status, and grew worryingly strong. They seized territory quickly, but halted their advance a year or so ago for reasons unknown.
Eduardo bristled at the memory. It was the day his mate left him. The day Crystal left him. And the last thing he heard from her was a mock of contempt. After losing Jewel, Joaane mental state fluctuated, and she had frequent mood swings, and continuously commuted unreasonable actions. Among the ones who defected from the tribe due to the Pit of Doom agreement, Crystal was the angriest at the agreement, and she believed that anyone who agreed with it was a coward and a disgrace. After an argument with Eduardo, she left the tribe with a few macaws, never to be seen again.
"Shut up you all! You're noisier than a bunch of chicks!" Felipe yelled, effectively silencing the chattering macaws.
"Do we meet up with them to see who it is?" Felipe asked gruffly.
"I have a hunch that I know who it is. And if I'm right, we're all in a lot of trouble," Eduardo replied, blankly gazing at the sky.
