"What is this?" Roberto asked, staring at the unexpected guests. Pretty much the whole scarlet tribe turned up, all battered and bruised, shivering in the cold. It was a delicate situation, and Eduardo couldn't possibly force his visitors to wait out in the cold while he decided what to do. Soon, any empty hollow left in the tribe was occupied, and the remaining scarlets were housed in volunteers' hollows. The snowy weather didn't seem to be letting up, although it didn't seem to be getting worse either. However, it still created a heavy presence of worry, and the refugees only amplified it.

Eduardo finally finished allocating homes, but he felt no content. Someone was missing, and he could feel it. It soon dawned on him

Where was Felipe?

Felipe groaned as he woke up. He was in some kind of shallow tunnel, with a tiny opening, while its entrance was evidently blocked with a boulder. Light poured in from the small opening, and Felipe itched to look out from it, but his body couldn't budge. Everything was sore and aching, and the slightest movement seemed to feel like a punch to his head. His headache was only amplified again when he tried one last time to stand. The cold was helping to numb some of the pain, and his aches.

The cold.

There was no heater in his prison. The temperature was at a numbing degree, and his waking senses were trembling at the new difference. Weakly, he wrapped his wings around his body, flinching at the aches the movement caused. A creak distracted him from the pain. With a rumble following closely, the rock blocking his exit was pulled out. Three bats and one macaw glanced at him briefly, before rolling the rock elsewhere. As this was done, someone was revealed.

"You," Felipe glared, his muscles finally active. He slumped up against the wall, propping himself against it, maintaining his hateful glare. Crystal returned a blank stare, grunting in contempt.

"What did you do to my tribe?" Felipe demanded to know, sharply inhaling as his weakened lungs drew in more air.

"Simple. I've forced them to merge with Eduardo's tribe, so that they are all one big target," Crystal replied. "But I may consider not to strike it, if you reveal something to me."

"May consider?" Felipe growled in reply, rising a little more to his full height with each word.

"Better a chance than none."

"There is no chance even after that!"

Crystal's eyes narrowed, and her voice became menacingly soft.

"This is not your decision to make."

"Yes it is," Felipe's eyes narrowed as well, and his glare intensified. Without warning, Crystal lashed out, and connected heavily with Felipe's head. He was knocked down easily, and slammed into the ground. He attempted to get up again, but failed to.

"We can both play your game, Felipe. But remember this. I win either way."

"Oh this is soooo exciting," a little voice exclaimed in a dramatic whisper. The lock clinked as it dropped to the ground, displaying a year of painstaking work in its destroyed state.

"Shall we begin our wondrous journey into the unknown?" the voice whispered once more. It's owner was perched upon the escapee's shoulder, peering intently forward.

"Yes, we shall. It's time to make our way to the enemy," her recipient replied, spreading his wings and making his way out of an open window. A cooling breeze seemed to welcome the two as they exited the human structure. A silent and minor gust of wind made itself heard as an entity soared through the sky.

"Next stop, the Amazon..."

The night sky was as dark as coal, and the usual spread of stars were fainter than usual, almost as invisible as the stars in Minnesota. Blu peered worriedly out of the hollow. The freak weather had been going on for quite some time, shouldn't it calm down by now? And the weather was not the most threatening part of the situation. The scarlet tribe's chief mysteriously disappeared, with the tribe itself displaced, and the Outcasts were getting bolder and bolder with their actions. Everything was bending slowly, and tension was sure to cause something to snap soon. A small disturbance from under his wing distracted Blu from his troubled thoughts. He shifted it slightly to accommodate the bird underneath, who was still sleeping soundly.

His family was sleeping soundly.

Jewel was leaning on him, with Carla tucked beneath her wing. Tiago and Bia were under Blu's wings, with the latter readjusting her sleeping position every once in a while, and the other snoring loudly. Blu's mood lightened a little as he used a wingtip to close Tiago's open mouth, and a small smile made its way out. The smile soon dissipated as he linked the threats to his family. Why was Crystal so stubborn with her ideals? To Blu, nothing was more important to him than his family, but apparently Crystal broke off from Eduardo so directly. What could she be thinking? And how much did she care about Eduardo and Jewel now? Blu grunted as his internal clock yelled at him to sleep; his worry had kept him awake for far too long. Just as he was about to shut his eyes to attempt to get some rest, faint shouting delayed his action. The shouting got louder and louder, and more seemed to join in. A scream shook Blu awake, and he shot up. In a chain reaction, Jewel and the kids were rudely awakened from their slumber as well. Tiago, Carla and Bia were groggily staring around, intrigued by Blu's look of worry. Jewel on the other hand was wide awake, and shot out of the hollow the moment she heard another scream.

"Stay here," Blu told the kids, and leapt out to follow Jewel. A nasty sight soon greeted them. Multitudes of fierce predators were gathered around, biting at a hollow's narrow entrance. Blu shivered in fright as he recalled what the predators were called.

Harpy Eagles.

Eduardo was already at the scene, yelling at the surrounding macaws to stay in a formation. An increasing number of macaws were gathered nearby, staying close together. There were a total of four eagles, with one pecking at a hollow entrance, and scrabbling at it with sharp, deadly talons. The remaining three were attempting attacks on the rest of the macaws, but the sheer number was keeping them wary.

"Close in slowly! Stay away from the talons!" Eduardo barked, leading the macaws in the middle of the formation. It was like a curve, slowly forcing the eagles to back away out of the tribe's land. Unfortunately, they weren't too cooperative, and were sending several lashes at the prey, causing disarray in closer sections of the formation.

"Charge in! Aim for the wings and tail!" Eduardo ordered. Group by group, macaws dived in an offensive, targeting the closest intruder they could find. Bolts of red and blue rammed into the eagles, some latching on with talons and beaks. Many were flung off, and some were thrown away, slamming into the nearby trees. The eagle that was picking at the hollow was forced to divert its attention, and it let loose a piercing screech of anger. One of the eagles charged forwards without warning, with sharp talons facing the crowds. There were panicked responses, and many birds ducked out of the way. One, however, was not fast enough. A scream was heard as he was hit by the assault, and he soon plummeted toward the ground, flapping madly.

"Now! While it's broken from its main group!"

Many soon responded, ferocity amplified tenfold, charging toward the eagle. It attempted to fly again, but the damage inflicted and the weight of those that latched on were simply too much to bear. The eagle soon found itself plummeting downward like its previous victim, screeching in panic and anger. The other eagles abandoned the fight, and escaped, flying off into the distance. On the ground, the eagle struggled as it wrestled with the tens and tens of birds attacking from all directions. The countless nicks soon escalated into cuts and bruises, and the battered predator soon found itself cornered. Blu circled around the formerly mighty creature, and spotted Jewel latched onto its back, furiously peaking and scratching from her position. Many others were attacking, scarlet and Spix's macaws, ramming into and scratching at the large target. The eagle seemed to let out a cry of pain, and spun violently, it's extended wings slamming into any too close. Jewel was flung off in the eagle's mad spinning, and landed in a pile of snow and dirt. Free of its burden, the eagle shot upward, escaping the scene as quickly as possible. A few briefly gave chase, but stopped as the battle lust and adrenalin wore off.

It was over.

Blu spotted a few birds support the injured macaw into a hollow, with a few others following in to check on his wounds. The cold air soon started to bite, and everyone headed back to their hollows. The sun was starting to peak, but the unexpected trouble had tired most, and it wasn't too surprising to see that most went back to rest. Harpy Eagles normally didn't venture into tribal territory, knowing from experience that so many problems would rise if they picked prey from the tribes. Something made them truly desperate. The cold had probably driven most of their usual prey into hiding, and the Eagles were probably starved enough to attempt a raid on the tribes.

The usual few macaws were handing out food as usual, but with the added scarlets, the food's supply drained twice as quickly. There was plenty left, but at the rate, the food would have to be closely monitored and rationed after a few days.

Unexpectedly, the cold had died down quite a bit, and though it was still stinging, it was much more bearable. The macaws, who mostly planned to stay in, were pleasantly surprised, and many began wandering out. Eduardo had ordered half of the tribe's adults (including the scarlets) to fetch more food, leaving the rest to watch over the kids, who took the opportunity to frolic in the snow.

As usual, Daniel and Aline left with the rest, with Daniel slipping away a little later just to avoid Aline noticing. Caio's parents also joined in the search, leaving Caio with the twins. The two were rushing around in the snow, tossing the powdery bits at each other, and pretty much everywhere else as well. Caio kept a distance from the two, ensuring that he was out of their line of sight, but still close enough for him to see them. From his hiding spot, he spotted someone landing nearby. The twins seemed to stop toying around the snow, and seemed to protest about something. Caio got out of his hiding place, and spotted the addition.

"Come on Bia! We've been cooped up inside for days!" Crash whined.

"I'm not asking you to go in, just don't stay on the snow," Bia replied, coaxing the two out.

"You don't need to listen to Dad," Dash reasoned, grabbing onto the snow with his two wings as Bia pushed him across the snow slowly.

"How are you not cold in that?" Bia asked, trying to lift Dash out of the snow.

"Aw come on, snow is fun!" Dash smiled as he flung some snow in the air, creating a small cloud of white powder. Some landed on Bia, and she swept them off just as quickly as they stayed. The twins took the hint, and tossed as much snow on Bia as possible, caking her in a frosty coat of white. Not long after, she looked like a whitish species of bird.

"Are you done trying to bury me alive?" Bia sighed, shivering slightly as she brushed off the snow. The twins laughed in reply, but ceased their bombardment, and continued to play in the piles of snow. Bia stood at a side, keeping an eye on the two passively.

"What are you doing out?" Caio asked. Bia turned around, almost knocking into him.

"Tiago and the others went to explore the rising river, but it's really cold near there, so I only stayed briefly," Bia explained. It was clear that she was a little disappointed. She had always enjoyed admiring the rainforest, and the river only rose at certain times of the year.

"Cheer up, there's always next year," Caio tried to comfort. His attempt didn't really seem to have much of an effect.

"Well, if this weather goes back to normal, it would actually be fine to go back in a month or two."

"Then there's no worry," Caio said, patching up his previous attempt.

"Do you see that?" Bia asked, squinting in the distance.

"See what?" Caio squinted as well, but wasn't able to make out anything of relevance. Bia used her wings, and turned him toward the direction. Caio looked again, and this time, he noticed two specks in the sky, slowly getting bigger over time.

"What is that?" Caio murmured, squinting to try and identify the objects. The shapes became clearer as the two objects approached, and Caio noticed that they were two birds. But something about them felt wrong. They had to be huge in order to be seen from so far. It dawned on Bia before it dawned on Caio.

"Crash! Dash! Time to go back!" Bia yelled harshly, shocking the twins. In all her time with them, she had never raised her voice so aggressively. Without much question, the two rushed back to the hollow, followed closely by Bia and Caio.

"What? What's wrong?" Caio asked, still trying to see the two figures.

"Caio, those are too big to be normal macaws!" Bia stated. "Those may be..."

A loud screech cut her short. Bia's countenance paled when her suspicions were confirmed.

"Faster!" Caio yelled, recognizing the screech. Crash and Dash soon made it into the hollow, and disappeared within. Caio and Bia were about to follow, when the dreaded creatures blocked the path. Bia and Caio froze at the sight, hovering in the air a few meters away.

Harpy Eagles.