"Hey there, nice to hear from you again!" A voice greeted from the old phone. Tiago, Carla and Bia recognized Nico's suave voice, and cheerfully returned the greeting.
"Eh there! 'Ow's it goin'?" Another voice asked.
"Hey Uncle Pedro!" Carla returned the greeting enthusiastically. The city birds called using a rusting hand phone that looked as though it was about to disintegrate. Blu's phone was an old model, but was still mostly intact. Due to its age, it could only provide a limited range of services, like accepting and making calls. Even the messaging system failed to work properly anymore.
"How's the Amazon?" Nico asked. Tiago, Carla and Bia shared a silent pact to not talk about the Outcast conflict. It would only worry their friends, as they were powerless to do much to stop it.
"It's fine, we've made a few friends, it's great here," Bia replied.
"Only friends?" Pedro asked. "Nobody extra special?"
"Yeah, Bia has one, it's ow!" Tiago started, but shut up when Bia stomped on his talon.
"Oh Bia, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Nico said, sounding intent to find out who Tiago was referring to.
"He isn't my boyfriend, he's just a rather annoying friend. Something like Tiago, but with this added goggly eyes, and weird compliments," Bia explained. The macaws heard some sort of whistling in the background the moment Bia said the last part.
"Oh, you'll find a lover pretty soon," Nico promised. Bia stared at the phone with an annoyed face while Carla and Tiago made loud kissing noises.
"How 'bout you Tiago?" Pedro asked. Tiago seemed to hesitate briefly, and replied that he didn't have his eyes on anyone.
"Oh really?" Carla noticed, looking at Tiago in amusement.
"Really," Tiago confirmed.
"Carla, any zings?" Nico asked, but Carla denied having any, and changed the subject.
"How's Rafael?"
"Oh that ol' bird?" Pedro said. "Oh he and Eva have three more eggs on the way!" Tiago, Carla an Bia chuckled, thinking about the new trio of kids the toucans would be probably be having.
"Kids! Time to go!" Blu called from the entrance.
"Coming!" Tiago delayed, and turned to the phone. "Sorry Uncle Nico and Uncle Pedro, we need to go for now."
"Those under the age of five, please report to Roberto. The rest, report to Eduardo," Blu instructed the tribe mates present, directing the two groups apart. He whispered a hasty goodbye to his children and went back to his temporary task. Tiago, Bia and Carla headed towards the direction Blu was gesturing at for "those under five", sure enough, under the cover of two large trees with wide canopy-leveled leaves, Roberto was directing some kids around the area, but despite his efforts, many were still squirming around, and any order in the crowd dissipated as quickly as any formed.
"Hey! Get back here!" Roberto yelled at two kids at the far end who were trying to escape from the group. Mimi joined in Roberto's effort, and after some time, the rowdiness became significantly less intense.
"Alright, do you know why you're here?" Roberto asked the children. The blank looks on more than half of the present audience convinced Roberto that they weren't.
"Okay, you're being trained in very basic combat, and some evasive maneuvers," Roberto said, and excited murmuring reverberated around the kids, especially the boys.
"Don't get that excited, it's very, very basic," Roberto added, transforming most of the excitement into boredom.
"You would need a partner for most of the exercises." The moment Mimi finished, the order erupted into more chaos as the kids scrambled around, trying to find preferred partners. Tiago and Carla soon bumped into Ana and Bruno, and Ana paired with Carla, while Tiago paired with Bruno. Bia searched around, but frankly didn't want to pair up with a total stranger.
"Hey Bia," a voice greeted from behind her. Bia turned around, and groaned as she saw Caio. She looked at the crowds again, but before she could really decide between her two options, everyone seemed to pair up at once. Bia grumbled as she paired herself with Caio, who was grinning smugly at his little victory.
"If this involves hitting you, I will hit twice as hard," Bia murmured.
"And I will hit half as hard," Caio replied, earning him a smack from Bia. Caio rubbed his cheek using a wing with a sheepish look, the last traces of his attitude vanishing.
"Madame, the Spix's macaws are being trained in combat," a bat reported. Crystal grunted in reply, not really believing that they were going to be able to do much anyway.
"They shouldn't be a worry. It's too late for them to start," Crystal replied. "But this might mean that we have lesser time than we anticipated."
"What do you reckon we do, Madame?" The bat asked.
"Simple. We act now. Gather the tribe."
"The adults are making fine progress," Jewel reported to Eduardo. The few who could hold their ground in combat had plucked out groups of five to seven macaws each, with Eduardo and Jewel taking ten each. So far, most of the groups were coping well, and most already knew basic combat moves. Mimi landed nearby, and Eduardo instantly asked how the younger ones were faring.
"They are getting along slowly, though younger ones aren't really taking it seriously though," Mimi replied.
"They should at least learn the evasive actions well," Eduardo stated, annoyed that the training wasn't working to its full extent.
"They should," Mimi agreed. "I'll go help Roberto again. They might've descended into chaos the moment I left." With that, Mimi took off, returning to Roberto and the large group of kids. Contrary to Mimi's expectation, the children were following Roberto's instructions rather well, although most were giggling as they tried the moves.
"Okay, if there is only one or a few enemies that come to attack a large group of you, forget all the running and hiding. Simply swarm them," Roberto instructed. "Most important may be clinging onto a larger opponent." Mimi frowned at the thought of children fighting. Sure the numbers would help, probably by a significant amount, but the very thought of them getting hurt was unthinkable. Roberto's talking brought her back to the scene.
"Now let's try it out! Take turns, one partner will try and cling onto the other, while that partner will shake or run around as vigorously as possible." Roberto instructed. Lively chatter erupted, and many kids leaped onto their partners without even asking. Shouts of protest and laughing echoed everywhere, while Mimi and Roberto scanned the area for anything too violent.
"After you?" Caio asked Bia, giving a mock courteous bow. Bia huffed and hopped onto his back, using his bent head as a launch pad.
"Ow! Hey!" Caio whined, and whirled around. Bia gasped at the sudden movement, and latched onto him with her wings, covering his face in the process.
"I can't see!" Caio spun and trashed around more, and Bia only gripped tighter as she was spun around and around, seeing stars as her world got more and more unbalanced. She tried to talk, but found that she couldn't really say much in her dizziness, and could only cling on for as long as she could and hope that Caio would stop panicking.
"Okay, switch!" Someone called out, and Caio grounded into a halt, almost flinging Bia off accidentally. Bia slipped off and stumbled around in pure confusion, bumping into random objects as she struggled to balance herself.
"Bia are you okay?" She distantly recognized Carla's voice as she bumped into something new.
"Just peachy," she replied, facing the wrong side.
"Okay, if your partner is too large, it's time to find a new partner," Roberto announced. Bia was cured of the worst of the dizzy spell, and peered around looking for another partner. Caio was already taller than her, and she wasn't too keen to hold him on top of her either. Unless, I get to try and throw him off. Bia smirked as she thought of wiping his smug face off.
"Okay, if you're ready, start!" Mimi called out, restarting the pandemonium. Caio carefully got onto Bia's back, and almost immediately, Bia started swerving around trying to throw him off. He screeched in shock. And grabbed onto her tail. Every time Bia moved, Caio's tail would in turn whack her face.
"Get your tail out of my face!" She ordered, but Caio didn't really bother, or couldn't really hear her. She grunted in annoyance, and bent her head downward, and spun in circles as quickly as she could, with her eyes shut tightly. She soon felt the weight on her back lift off as Caio slipped and was flung off. Bia smiled innocently at a disoriented Caio, who was stumbling around and blinking in confusion.
"You...didn't have to shake...so hard," he wheezed as he struggled to stay on his talons.
"Oh yes I did," Bia replied smugly.
"Good job everyone, that will be it for now," Roberto dismissed the crowd. "Your parents will be here soon, so for those that don't know how to get back, you can stay put."
"Roberto!" Someone was frantically flying toward him. Roberto peered at the bird in surprise as he approached.
"Eduardo is calling for you! There's a situation!" He reported.
"What situation?" Roberto pressed for details. The messenger looked at the crowds of curious children, and leaned closer to Roberto and whispered something in his ear. Roberto's face visibly drained of color, and he swiftly launched himself toward Eduardo's hollow. The words of the messenger rung through his mind as he did so, pumping his wings to move faster.
The entire Outcast tribe has been spotted traveling nearby.
The surrounding animals spotted the incoming crowd, and the incessant sound of chattering died down the moment the crowd was recognized as the Outcasts. The sense of dread soon exploded into all out fear as everyone started evacuating the area, rushing back to their tribes, or back into the forest. A tapir and a porcupine observed the scene from an elevated position in the rocks, holding expressions of shock and fear. The Outcasts were notorious for their hate of the Pit of Doom games. The Outcasts landed, and soon their leader directed them toward certain areas rather idly, taking the available time to its full extent.
"Somebody throw those two irritants out of my sight," the leader ordered, pointing at the tapir and the porcupine. Despite their protests, her orders were swiftly executed, and soon they were dropped back into the deep jungles, away from the pit.
"Setup the lookouts. I believe we will have some company soon."
"Madame, Eduardo and Felipe are arriving to meet you," a bat informed. Crystal turned around, not expecting the tribes to react so quickly, but to her relief, she didn't see them bringing their whole tribes along, just a ragtag team of escorts. She frowned as she noticed Jewel among the approaching crowd, and her talons instinctively dug into the pebbles below her.
"What are you doing?!" Eduardo boomed the moment he got in Crystal's earshot. Crystal didn't react to the chief's question, and continued staring.
"This has gone too far! Get your tribe out of the pit!" Felipe demanded.
"Or what?" Crystal taunted in reply.
"Or we will have war," Felipe warned.
"You want to start a war with my tribe? Maybe I should remind you, Felipe. A little group of my tribe crippled over thirty members of yours without sustaining any injuries in return. If you really want to send your tribe on a suicide mission, you are free to do so," Crystal spoke casually, inciting Felipe's anger to glow red hot. He clenched his beak shut, knowing in his heart that she was right, and attacking would only make things worse for his tribe.
"We don't need war to settle this. Why do you even want this rocky pit for?" Eduardo asked in aggression, clearly angered by the occupation.
"It will be a fine area for my tribe to live in. Good shelter, plenty of food and water sources nearby..."
"Food sources? You mean our food sources! This pit is surrounded by Scarlet and Spix's macaw land!" Felipe stated, his voice slightly trembling. He hated feeling so helpless, up to the point where he couldn't even simply lunge at Crystal just because he knew that he would lose.
"I don't abide by your crummy rules. If you can't enforce them, I don't need to follow them," Crystal replied, her statement radiating enough defiance to turn Eduardo's glare into a squint.
"You can't just ignore rules." A new voice stated. Everyone turned toward the new voice. It was Jewel. Crystal's expressions softened ever so slightly, but nobody really noticed.
"These rules make up your tribe, and abiding by them upholds your tribe's honor," Jewel continued.
"Eduardo's gotten to you hadn't he?" Crystal asked rhetorically. "Honor is wrongly defined in your case. Going to ridiculous extents to follow stupid rules is foolishness."
Jewel's temper seemed to sprout more and more at Crystal's words, and her once calm expression was twisting into a glare.
"This is your last chance. Get out of the pit," Eduardo cut in before Jewel could say anything rash.
"No," Crystal replied simply. She raised a wing, and soon, many surrounding Outcasts stood closer to the escorted leaders, their eyes fixed onto them.
"This is my land now. You get out," Crystal ordered. Eduardo and Felipe bristled angrily at the order, reluctant to abide by it.
"I heard that the Outcast leader can be changed if someone kills the current leader," Jewel stated, waiting for Crystal to respond. She didn't, but she stared at Jewel, already guessing what she would be saying next. Eduardo guessed as well, and tried to signal her to not try it. A deadly silence persisted after Jewel's statement, and everyone stared on for Crystal's reaction. Her face seemed fully expressionless, and she stared back at Jewel, as if waiting for her to say something.
"So?" Crystal finally asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. The tension rose, and soon the surrounding animals began some light murmuring, pressuring the already tense situation. Neither of the two macaws continued the conversation for some time, only staring into each other's eyes. Eduardo seemed uneasy at the situation, and looked worriedly at Jewel, while Felipe looked on in interest.
"That's what I thought," Crystal said, abandoning the conversation, and turning to leave. Jewel looked momentarily stunned at her mother's reaction, but forced herself to not try anything at her. A soft scrunching noise was heard as Jewel's talons dug deeply into the pebbles below. Crystal paused slightly at the noise, but continued to move away.
"Let's go," Eduardo whispered solemnly to Jewel as the Outcasts started to regain their order.
As the escorts returned to their respective tribes, the sky darkened, as if warning of the impending doom awaiting the forest. Jewel glanced back at the former Pit of Doom, her expressionless countenance not reflecting the turmoil within.
