Disclaimer: The characters of Rio belong to the rights of Bluesky and Fox studios.
Rio: merry Christmas.
soon after arriving at Rafael's hollow, Jasmine, Savannah and Bobby had gathered their Toucan friends and had split into 3 groups.
Savannah was styling many of the girl Toucan's feathers while Bobby was having a snowball fight with many of the boy Toucans but Jasmine was hanging out with Carlos.
"Jasmine. C'mon it's easy." Encouraged Carlos as he gave the worried young female Blue Maccaw a small friendly nudge as the two stood on the hole of the hollow tree.
Carlos had suggested that both jasmine and he had flying lessons so he could try and boost Jasmine's confidence. Admittedly, he liked her just as she was but he was trying to do this for her own good. But sadly, Jasmine was having second thoughts at the last second.
"I...I can't..." Stuttered Jasmine scarily as she backed away whilst folding her wings in her back and walking backwads on her talons As well as ducking her head slightly.
Carlos put a gentle wing on Jasmine's shoulder and told her with a gentle, kind smile on his beak "Jazz...I know you can because you are the kindest bird I know."
Jasmine looked at Carlos' kind expression and felt a small smile creep on her grey beak. She may have been afraid but seeing Carlos' smile made her feel a bit braver.
"And besides," added Carlos as he spread his wings and took off into the sky and did some loop-de-loops in the air "It's pretty easy and I'll catch you if ya fall!"
Jasmine gulped nervously. She didn't know if it was totally easy but she was going to take Carlos' word for it, after all. He was going to catch her...right?
She closed her eyes before she emptied her mind and slowed her heart rhythm right down to 3 beats that occurred each 3 seconds. Jasmine flapped her wings gently up and down before she felt her talons lift off the ground. She opened an eye and smiled widely as she knew she was actually flying!
Carlos smiled widely and praised "Well done, Jasmine!" He then was about to make his way towards her but suddenly 3 Maccaws were flying towards Jasmine. The young Toucan knew those birds, they were the ones who bullied Jasmine and gave her the phobia of flying in the first place! Carlos' smiled faltered into a hugely worried frown and he gasped "Aye, Corumba!"
The leader, a male Bright green Maccaw looking to be a little older then Jasmine, flew up to her and teased with a grin on his black-grey beak "Well Lookie here, boys." and flew and whispered to her "Look whose finally come out of her shell."
Jasmine stuttered, trying to look the bullies in the eye but she was to nervous to "W-Well, Yes...I am flying now so you guys don't need to petty me anymore."
One of the other bullies, a Finch with red feathers and arrow shaped feathers linning his forehead, exclaimed with a rather nasty laugh "Yeah for maybe about 2 Cente meters from the ground!"
Jasmine looked around and noticed that they were correct. She was only flying a few feet off the ground and she was very low for a flying rate. Jasmine shrunk her head back with a scared look taking over her facial features.
These birds really liked picking on smaller birds and she was their main target. These bullies called themselves the Bone crushing threesome and they lived for picking on weak birds and unfortunately, Jasmine was one of those birds.
"Lets get her back to the ground where she should be." Suggested a young Sparrow evily as he quickly grabbed her shoulders by the talons to keep her in place and what happened next was all a blur to Jasmine as the two other bird bullies began to yank tightly at her wings and she felt pain at this. She yelped and screamed as the bullies were illegally pulling at her delicate wings but suddenly, she began to feel herself drop and fall and she felt someone else grab her by the shoulders by this time it was someone softer.
She opened her eyes weakly to see that she had in fact fallen and Carlos had caught her like he said he would. It turns out that in a desperate effort to save her, The young male Toucan had actually thrown some grabs into the bullies faces but that wasn't enough to drive them off though.
Carlos had softly flew downwards at the foot of the hollow where this had all started and placed a fainted Jasmine down on the snow. "C-Carlos?" Asked Jasmine as she tried to move her head but she felt so weak and Carlos landed in front of her and stood defensively in front of her, her wings spread in front of her.
The bullies landed in front of the two young birds and the leader wiped some grape off his face with his wing and scowled at Carlos and Jasmine who was coming too.
"Leave her alone, you bullies!" Squawked Carlos crossly as he tried to defend the poor female Macaw. Jasmine could barely believe what she was seeing. Was Carlos defending her!?
As the bullies were coming towards them both, a sudden large rather muscular black heap landed in front of them both and he inquired in a fatherly figure tone of voice "What are you boys doing out and alone this hour of morning, then?" The mysterious bird began to walk towards them, his wings folded within his back and his sharp talons making foot prints in the snow as he took each step closer towards them.
The Black bird looked closer at the three and demanded rather angrily "Well!? Spit it out, boys!"
The bright green Macaw lied with a nervous gulp "Uh...U-uh nothing, Rico sir!"
Thats right. This mysterious bird was none other then Ricardo the Black Hawk. There were many legends about him. How he's a hybrid of a nighthawk and a regular hawk. Of how he could stay up late at night and still be as fresh as a daisy in the morning. About how he lost the love of his life to cruel birds who took her life.
Rico glared at the teenaged chicks and turned to his left and began to pace up and down, still eyeing the 3 nervous bullies as he walked.
"If that's so then why were you harming this little chick, then?" Asked Rico as he pointed a wingspan towards Jasmine behind him who was still pretty much out for the count with Carlos' wings wrapped around her neck in a protective hug.
The black Hawk growled before he threatened the bullies "Fly home now and later I shall tell your families of what you have done and if you dare try and hurt her again then you will have to answer to me." He stomped a talon down and glared furiously as he stared right into the green Macaw's own blue irises "Understand!?"
The three bullies nodded, afraid before they took flight and flew back to their mother's, screaming and shouting in fright into the far distance.
Once Rico was sure the bullies were out of sight, he turned and looked to the two little birds who laid on the snow. Carlos sat beside Jasmine who had just woken up and was staring in awe just like Carlos.
"Are you two, ok?" Asked Rico in concern as he gently walked towards the two youngsters and extended one of his midnight black wings for her. Rico may seem a little intimidating at times but he did care for those who were friends of his and his friends were like family.
Jasmine, still feeling lightheaded, took Rico's wing shyly and Rico gently helped the female blue macaw chick back on her feet and told her "I'm so sorry I couldn't make it in time, Jasmine. Those bullies had done more damage then I could stop."
Jasmine regained some of her thoughts but was confused. What did Rico mean by this? What did those bad chicks do!?
Carlos stood behind Jasmine to catch her if she fainted again and gave her a sympathetic frown "I'm so sorry, Jazz. Look at you're wings."
Jasmine did so and looked at her once beautiful yet weak wings. there were now a few Bald patches of where the bullies ripped out some of her cerulean feathers.
Tears pricked at Jasmine's brown eyes and she sniffled. Her wings were precious to her and if anyone were to see her feathers plucked. Everyone would laugh at her but everyone does this anyway so it was nothing new.
Without a second Jasmine quickly embraced Ricardo for a hug as she wrapped her wings around the black hawk's neck, seeking comfort for her plucked feathers.
Rico couldn't help but wrap his own wings around Jasmine's small body to return the hug. The poor little chick was going to endure much more bulling as the months go on if she didn't learn to fly soon.
Soon, Jasmine cried herself to a calming, soundless slumber. The black Hawk sighed sadly as he suggested to the concerned looking young male Toucan "Come. Why don't we find Savannah and Bobby and your siblings and go back to the hollow and wrap up Jasmine's wings?"
Carlos nodded before they began to fly to find the others but as they were flying, Rico looked to the young male Toucan and told him "Carlos. I'm sure if you hadn't intervened, Jasmine would have lost more then her feathers but I must know, Why did ya do it?"
Carlos looked down to the ground shyly. He did in fact have a reason to help Jasmine but he was worried that it would sound silly. "I...Well..." stuttered Carlos as he flapped his wings quickly to keep up with Rico.
The young Keel-billed, Toco Toucan hybrid sighed and admitted "Because...I kinda have feelings for her. I just want to see Jasmine get what she deserves and I would fly to the ends of the earth to get her what she needs."
Rico looked to Carlos. It was rare for a Toucan to love a Macaw but he could tell by the look in Carlos' eyes, he was telling the total truth by saying he would go to the ends of the earth to see her live her life and get what she needed.
"You show such determination to see that Jasmine lives her life. I admire that. In fact it reminds me of a lovely couple I know of." Said the Black hawk while looking down himself and Carlos asked in a whisper, looking at the adult muscular hawk "You and Christina?"
Rico nodded sadly "Yes..." Rico missed Christina greatly and visited her daily and he planned to go and see her soon. Very soon.
Carlos got the message and said no more, sensing that Rico didn't want to talk about it anymore and the three found Savannah, Bobby, and Carlos' brothers and sisters and they were all shocked by the fact that Jasmine laid unconscious upon Rico's back. Bobby's blood especially boiled because he hated seeing Jasmine hurt.
As they were flying back to the hollow, Rico reassured the chicks that it should take a few weeks for Jasmine's feathers to grow back and they were all relieved by this news but still worried about the fact that the young blue Macaw chick was unconscious again.
But they were all going to keep an eye on Jasmine until she awakes when they got back.
That's the end of this chapter and I would like to thank Ricardo the Black Hawk for allowing me to use his amazing OC and I hope I got everything about him correct.
Please review and I'm glad I uploaded this to be a bit longer. Thanks everybody and I am sorry if this is past Christmas.
See you later.