Escape?

In all the commotion, up in one of the trees, Eva (Rafael's wife) and her 18 toucan kids were tied to a branch with some string. They had tried to break free many times, but all had failed, and they had eventually given up. They now stared down at Blu, Rafael, Nico and Pedro, and the situation they faced.

They watched as Nigel lunged at Blu, and how Blu moved away just in time. They had been watching ever since Blu had arrived.

"If only I could reach that piece of bark," thought Eva and she looked longingly at a sharp piece of bark just inches from her beak. "Then maybe we could have a chance at getting out of here."

The little toucans were all frightened and scared as they watched as Nigel lunged again. And again. And again.

Blu was scared and frightened. He was starting to get exhausted. He could take to the skies, but he knew Nigel would definitely beat him there.

As Nigel lunged again, Blu didn't have the energy to move away this time. Nigel grabbed him with his claws and pinned him to the ground. Nigel's beak was only a hair's breadth from Blu's throat.

"Any last words, macaw?" Nigel shrieked.

Somewhere up in the tree, Eva finally got the strength to reach the sharp piece of bark, from looking at Blu lying helplessly in Nigel's claws. She finally cut the rope that bound her to the branch, and just as Nigel was about to strike the fatal blow, she flew down and knocked him on the head. He fell like a stunned mallet, unconscious.

Blu was just beginning to recover from the shock. His life had flashed before his very eyes.

"Thank you," he whispered to Eva. "I owe you my life."

She smiled. It was the first time he had seen her smile. All the little toucans flew down from the tree as well and stood behind her.

"I'm afraid there's still one problem" pointed out Nico. "The marmosets."

They all turned to look at Rafael, but the marmosets had all gone.

"Where are they?" wondered Blu.

"I think they retreated into the woods," Rafael replied. "When they realised Nigel had fallen, they ran away."

"Cowards," shouted Eva.

They could still hear King Mauro shouting "retreat!" in the jungle.

"Let's go!" said Rafael. "Pedro is writhing in pain and Nico has an injured leg!"

"How are we supposed to transport them then?" asked Blu.

"Eva, you can carry the kids, right?" said Rafael. "I can get a big leaf from one of these trees, and Pedro can go on it. I'll grab one end of the leaf and Nico can grab the other end, and we'll fly Pedro to safety. You can fly, can't you Nico?"

Nico nodded his head, saying: "I only have an injured leg."

Blu looked at Jewel in the cage. "You guys go ahead without me," he said to Rafael, Nico, Pedro and Eva. "I need to find a way to get Jewel out of this cage."

"Ok," said Rafael, and he went to fetch the leaf.

Blu waved goodbye as his friends disappeared in the distance.

"Now, how am I supposed to do this," he wondered.

"Blu, I was so worried about you!" Jewel looked at him threw the bars of the cage. "You could have died!"

"I'm glad I didn't" he replied.

"You shouldn't have come here in the first place! Didn't you know it was a trap?"

"I did it for you," Blu said. "Now, do you have any idea how you got in there, so I can try to get you out?"

"There's a lock here" Jewel pointed to the side of the cage.

"Oh, ok." He flew up and observed it. He reached into the cage with his wing, and then put a feather in the lock. He twisted the feather a bit to form a series of combinations. There was a 'click' and the lock came open and the cage door swung open.

The two birds ran towards each other and hugged each other. Blu was glad to feel Jewel's soft wings again, and Jewel was glad to be back with Blu. Blu told Jewel of all the things that had happened while she was gone, which wasn't that much. Before they knew it 10 minutes had passed.

While Blu and Jewel were happily treasuring the moment, one of Nigel's eyes flicked open. He was far from being defeated. He got up and stared at the happy couple with anger in his eyes.

Blu and Jewel heard the commotion and turned around.

"You really thought you could defeat me, didn't you?" Nigel snarled.

Jewel quickly flew up to get a bit of a head start on getting away from Nigel, and Blu followed. Before long Nigel was nearly upon them.

Blu looked behind him. He looked below him. There was nowhere to go. This was it. This had to be the end.

But it wasn't. An idea suddenly popped into Jewel's mind. She looked to her right, and there laid the great mass of swirling waters known as the Ocean.

"What are you doing?" Blu shouted as Jewel veered to her right, towards the Ocean.

"No time to explain!" she replied. "Just follow me!"

Then it suddenly hit him. "Nigel won't follow us out to sea. We can truly escape now!"

And sure enough, as they entered the air directly above the ocean, Nigel stopped chasing them and started heading back.

But Blu and Jewel had forgotten about something, the Volcano.

Well, that's the end of chapter 6!

Blu and Jewel finally escaped Nigel, but what adventures will they encounter out at sea?

The next chapter will be called Lost at Sea.

~Luigi