Guest Review Responses:
Fanfiction guy: If you liked the charcter development in the last chapter, you're going to love this one. Paris has an intereting backstory. One which will be revealed in small doses. Thank you again for your review, and I'll see your ideas when you post them. :)
The four birds made their way to the fruit stockpile Nico and Pedro had prepared for the grand reopening of their club. It was ok if the four friends ate some of the food since the samba kings were a little over zealous with their search. Most of it was going to be thrown out anyway. Soon, they all were filling their beaks with delicious fruit.
Pedro took a wingful of grapes and began chewing on them.
"So Blu." The red crested cardinal started while licking away the juice from his beak.
"What brings you here, other than the food?" He asked while looking at the Blu macaw who was sitting on the opposite side of the table.
Blu politely stopped nibbling on his Blackberry, and looked up at Pedro.
"Oh, well Jewel thought it would be a good idea for me to get more experience flying outside." He explained.
"Didn't do too much good. The klutz whacked into me while I was flying." Paris chuckled while taking a break from his star fruit.
"Hey…how is Jewel doing?" Nico inquired while taking a bite of his banana slice.
"Her wing is recovering. I left right when she was going for a checkup." Blu replied.
"You know, I should be going soon. Judging by the position the sun was in when me and Paris came here, I have about twenty minutes until I have to start heading back." Blu thought aloud.
"What's the matter lovehawk? Can't stand to be away from hot wing?" Nico teased while laughing. Pedro decided to join in on the fun.
"Yeah Blu, worried that you're going miss a cuddling session?" Pedro joshed.
Blu became very uncomfortable and looked down at the blackberry in his wings.
"I don't see what's so funny." Paris interjected bluntly. He leaned back, due to the fact that there was a crate behind him, and crossed his wings.
"Nothing good comes from love. It just makes you soft." He snarled and looked away from the three birds.
Blu was confused as to what Paris had against love. Nico saw Blu's confused look and decided to explain. He leaned over to the blue macaw and whispered something to him.
"Never mind that party killer. He's just sour cuz he hasn't had much luck in finding someone."
Even though Nico took precautions to prevent Paris from hearing, the canary's words made their way to the macaw's ears.
Paris looked up with a bitter expression and slammed the wooden table with his right wing.
"It's not that! I just don't want him to get his hopes up!" Paris exclaimed furiously.
Blu became very aggravated by this. He wouldn't stand by and watch someone deny him his precious Jewel, even though Paris did not have any control over Blu.
"Hopes up? What are you saying?" Blu interrogated with a little irritation in his voice.
"What do you think I mean!? She'll leave you Blu! They're all the same!" Paris retorted and slammed his wing, curled up like a fist, onto the table again. He looked down, obviously becoming emotional. He continued speaking, now with a calmer tone.
"S-She'll leave you...just when you begin thinking about starting a family. No reason, she just left." Paris shed a tear that slid down his beak.
Everyone remained quiet for a moment until Paris stood up and walked out of the room through the rear exit.
"Hey, Paris...buddy wait!" Pedro called out to the macaw. It proved to be no good as he ignored his friends beckoning.
Pedro was about to get up and follow the upset bird, but Nico placed a wing on his shoulder and pushed the tubby cardinal back down into his seat.
"I think we should give him some space." Nico suggested.
Pedro nodded. He looked up to see Blu staring at his Blackberry with a blank expression.
"Hey Blu. Don't let it get to you. He doesn't know Jewel like we do." Pedro said comfortingly.
Blu just looked at the samba duo.
"But what if he's right? He asked.
"What are you talkin' bout Blu? I see the way Jewel looks at you, if that ain't love, I don't know what is." Pedro countered.
"Yeah, for now. But what if she doesn't feel that way when we are released. I mean, we've only known each other for approximately 74.43 hours! How is it possible for two birds to make a lifelong decision after only 3 days? I've lived with Linda for almost all of my life. I don't know anything about protecting and providing for Jewel! When she realizes that I'm more of an appetizer than an Alpha..."
Blu began panting heavily and couldn't finish talking.
Nico and Pedro were just staring at Blu with wide eyes, not really sure what to say. What could they do? Sure, Nico was a romantic and Pedro was a rapper, but they don't have the kind of life experience Blu needs.
"Ay Caramba, Blu you think too much." A familiar voice called out. Blu stopped his hyperventilating and looked towards the entrance to see Rafael.
"Rafi!" The samba kings called out.
The toucan radiated with honesty and warmth. He smiled as he walked up to the Blu Macaw.
"Remember, it's not what you think up here." He pointed to Blu's head with a wingtip.
"It's what you feel in here." Rafael moved his wing down to Blu's heart.
Blu looked up at Rafael.
The toucan brought his wing back to his side.
"You need show Jewel how much she means to you Blu. Do something romantic. Make her feel like the most important bird in the world." Rafael advised.
Nico and Pedro perked up as they realized that this was their area of specialty.
"Yeah Blu! I can see it now!" Nico excitedly shouted. His bottle cap bounced around as he jumped up onto the table and slid his wings in front of him to indicate he was envisioning something.
"A romantic candle lit dinner, soothing music, delicious food. The perfect mood." The canary said while staring off into the distance.
"Oh, I know how to set, the, mood. Check it out!" Pedro took a deep breath as he prepared to start his song. He was stopped as Nico put a wing over the cardinal's chest, like one would do if they wanted to stop someone from walking, and looked up at him with a stern face.
"No Pedro. Not THAT mood." Nico said, implying that Pedro should stop whatever he was going to do.
"Aww man." Pedro complained.
Blu thought this was actually a pretty good idea, not the singing part, the dinner part. But how in the world was he going to set this all up? Blu didn't have much time to think as a chilling voice hit his eardrums.
"Hello birdies." Mauro, the leader of the marmoset monkeys, greeted. He was accompanied by two of his henchmen.
All of the birds were shocked to see the monkeys again. The four feathered friends grew tense, and sprung into their battle positions. Pedro did what he claimed to be, kung fu. He punched the air a few times and gave Mauro a death stare.
"What are you doing here? Didn't you learn your lesson from last time Little King Kong?" Pedro inquired angrily.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah." Mauro said while raising his hands in the air. His minions did the same.
"I come in peace." He continued. The other two monkey just nodded in agreement.
"How can we be sure?" Rafael queried skeptically while folding his wings.
"Calm down big nose. We only attached you before because Nigel forced us to. We are very nice moneys. Well, unless you have something shiny." The marmoset leader explained.
"But you don't need to worry about HIM anymore." Mauro crackled and rubbed his monkey paws together.
"Yeah, I'm sorry it had to be that way." Blu said sadly while looking down at the flood.
"Oh, you know?" Mauro found it amazing that Blu knew Nigel's fate.
Blu looked up with a sincere expression.
"It was actually my fault." Blu replied.
"Oh, wow. I guess I don't need to tell you about him then. Let's just forget about that looser. Hey, even better, let's start over. That's actually the reason why we came here. I wanted to apologize for before." Mauro genuinely explained while rubbing his left arm sheepishly with his right paw.
"So, you think we can be friends?" The marmosets asked and extended a paw.
Blu smiled and walked up to the monkey. The macaw accepted Mauro's paw in his talon.
"Sure." Blu said.
"Haha, oh you won't regret this blue buddy!" Mauro ecstatically responded.
"If you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING, just swing by my camp. You can't miss it. The place is just a mile south of a hot tourist spot." He added.
They broke the talon-paw shake and took a few steps back.
"I will try to remember that. Thank you Mauro." Blu thanked.
"No problem! Hey, I gotta get going. See you birds around!" Mauro waved goodbye as he left with his minions following closely behind.
The room was quiet for a few moments.
"Well, that was a lot for one day." Pedro said while stretching his wings.
"Unequivocally." Blu responded.
Everyone just looked dully at Blu.
"What?" He asked innocently.
Rafael laughed.
"Nothing you say ever makes any sense." The toucan explained.
"Ok, I think I get it." Blu thought to himself.
"I think I should be going back to aviary now." Blu announced.
"Thanks for your advice guys." He added.
"No prob Blu!" Pedro replied.
"It was nothing." Nico chirped.
Rafael walked up to Blu and put a wing around him.
"Remember Blu, just be yourself." He said while pointing to Blu's chest.
"Don't worry about being strong, coordinated, socially comfortable, confide-"
"Uh, Rafael." Blu interrupted, not seeing how this was supposed to make him feel better.
"Oh, sorry." He apologized.
"You know why I decided to help you two when we first met? I've seen hundreds of so called couples who said they were in love but really weren't. I could tell that you ad Jewel weren't like that."
He paused and continued to smile at his amigo.
"I knew you two were in love before you did. My point is Jewel likes YOU Blu. And I'm sure she will feel the same way forever. You two were meant to be together." The toucan finished as he patted Blu on the back.
"Thanks Rafael." Blu thanked while looking up at his father figure.
"No problem amigo. Now go, she's waiting for you." He said while pushing Blu towards the rear exit.
Blu was standing outside, and gave his three friends a quick glance. The blue macaw took off into the skies of Rio, back to his beloved Jewel.
Blu was only flying for a few minutes when something caught his eye. He swooped down and clumsily landed on some grass. He stumbled as he recovered from his anything but graceful landing.
"I really need to work on my descent." Blu said to himself as he made his way towards a bush.
"Ahh, perfect. Jewel is going to love this!"
Chapter complete! Hope you liked it. Looks like Blu and Mauro have different ideas on what happened to Nigel. Mauro does not tell Blu about Nigel because in Rio 2, Blu was surprised to see the cockatoo. Also Nigel seemed to have forgotten about Blu in the second movie until he saw him. I'm sure you are curious as to what Jewel is doing. Don't worry, the next chapter is going to be heavily centered on the two lovebirds. Until next time, have fun and keep writing!