Authors Note at the end.
As you know, I don't own any of these characters, the locations, events, ideas, occurrences, or anything else that may appear in both the movie RIO and my story; that is all the property of Blue Sky. Anything else is mine, Enjoy!
7. Chained-To-Each-other-Birds
The large forested room was peaceful. The replica jungle trees rustled softly, mimicking the real counterparts very efficiently. The manufactured brook babbled softly making its way under several branches pausing only to irrigate the smaller plants that could be supported inside.
A grunt echoed deeply inside the room, followed by several more less than natural noises. I struggled to pull a mango up the fake tree's stick staircase. The mango again shifted its weight as the stem came ever closer to twisting off. Not yet discouraged I continued to yank the stubborn fruit up the tree. Cursing fake tree's ridiculous height I stopped to catch my breath. Not that it came any easier with this fruit blocking most of my airway.
Just as I shifted my weight to begin my trek again, the ripe mango decided it had had enough of this poor handling and would rather fall to its own demise than spend more time being lugged around by me. A groan escaped my mouth as I watched the juicy fruit hit the ground with a sickening thud. My wings sagged and I chewed on the stem that was still in my mouth. So much for that idea, before I could even turn to head the rest of the way up this cursed tree I heard the melodic laughter above me. Blushing tried to focus on getting back up the tree and not on the fact that Jewel had seen the entire thing.
The blue macaw stared at me sweetly with those gorgeous eyes as I stepped onto the branch she occupied. I paused, staring vacantly at the beauty before me. Even with her wing bandaged tight against her body, her feather radiated the soft sky blue that distinguished her as such a jewel. Before I could continue, I caught myself and came back to reality.
"thow slong avesyou veen-" I cut myself short remembering the stem still in my mouth. Panicked I spit it out only to have it feebly land on my foot. With a quick shake I removed the invading stem and gave up on ever being suave again.
"How l-long were you watching?" I asked still stumbling over my words.
"Long enough." She smiled "You sure showed that mango who was boss."
"I, well, I- I mean I was-"
"I'm joking Blu, It was a nice thought and gesture." She came close and gave me a one winged hug. "Seriously, Id rather it be on the ground, you can finally show me how you maneuver without flight!" she said cheerfully trying to raise both wings in a grand gesture. The pain came across her face as she remembered one wing was broken and bound to her body.
I frowned as the she froze in pain. "You want me to go get Tulio?" I asked stepping towards her in order to offer support.
"No, that's ok, its gone now; lets just get on with the lesson." She replied poorly hiding the pain behind her words. I sighed at Jewels stubbornness, before making my way to the protruding stick staircase.
An hour had passed; we had only just reached the ground, though Jewels return had proved a bit messier than mine. I couldn't help but snicker a bit seeing her feathers covered in mango juice. The spirited bird gave me a cold stare before letting her face lighten a bit.
"I'd offer you some breakfast, but it looks like you kinda dove into it already." I commented blithely. Expecting a comeback, I was rather surprised to find piece of fruit flying towards me instead of a snide remark.
"So I was thinking-"
"That's never good"
"I was thinking that after breakfast I could show more of how I get around." I remarked between bites.
Jewel's eyes darkened and she shifted her gaze down to the messy fruit in front of her. "I don't know Blu. You saw how bad I was earlier."
"That was bound to happen; you've never tried this before. Besides with your wing bandaged you're bound to be off balance." I relied cheerfully. "You just need some practice! We start with something easier."
Jewel was still hesitant, still avoiding my gaze. "I just feel so lopsided. It's like I can't even stand up straight with this ridiculous thing!" The sky blue macaw exclaimed, tugging angrily at the oppressive bandages.
I sighed and walked over to my Jewel. She was upset and disappointed, but I continued anyway. Ignoring the sticky mess that still covered her feathers I pressed my body next to hers, and wrapped my wing around her back.
"We'll do this together; it won't be the first time. When it comes down to it, we're not acquaintance birds. We're more like-"
"Chained-to-each-other-birds." She replied grinning cheesily at me.
I smiled back; we'd escaped a great many things this way and would surely get through some simple walking the same way.
The sudden movement startled me as the cage lurched forward. Jewel had thrown herself into the bars. "Woh! Woh! Woh! Wait! Wait! What are you doing?" I squawked as I tried to regain my balance.
"Getting out of here! Are you going to help me or what?" Jewel replied frantically as she swung herself back into the cage. Everything was swinging wildly now, and I was beginning to feel sick. I tried to reason with her.
"A-actually all the survival guides say to sit and wait. And-and help will come."
"No one is coming!"
My eyes dropped to the floor. I really hoped she was wrong, I really did, but something deep down told me she may be right.
"We're on our own and if we just sit here, we're going to die!" Jewel continued as she swung the cage ever closer to the window and the open sky beyond.
As the cage swung back towards the window, Jewel desperately grabbed for the window bars, ignoring the door completely.
"Stop. Stop! Why don't you just open the door?" I replied, deciding I would help her for now. There was no need for her to hurt herself. I grabbed the sliding pin and pulled lightly. The door swung open.
"Are you kidding me!"
"What? It's just a standard Philips slide-bolt, you ju-"
"Come on!"
Before I could react, Jewel was gone. I was immediately surprised to find my foot following her. I let out a cry as I found myself being dragged from the cage door. Frantic, I looked for something to grab. My beak caught the edge of the cage, pinning my tongue between the roof of my mouth and the cold metal.
The movement halted and I distinctly felt my body being stretched very uncomfortably.
"What are you doing?" The blue bird cried out as she franticly tried to pull away.
"I cantht-"
"You can't, you can't what?"
Just as I was trying to speak again, ignoring the incredible pain my tongue was in, Nigel and the two dim humans burst through the door. I let out a gasp releasing the cage and my poor tongue. Suddenly I found myself looking at the sky swing under an enraged Jewel.
"I can't fly!" I cried as I looked down to see what piece of ground was going to kill us. We didn't fall far though as a clothesline caught our fall and sent us zip-lining to our next immediate death.
"You couldn't tell me this before now?" she exploded, ignoring the peril we were in.
"It didn't matter before now!" I yelled back
Stars exploded as I made contact with the wall. Still I was surprised and excited to see I had survived, if only just.
"I hate you." The voice didn't quite register but the sudden freefall did and I let out another yelp as our life-line released us to gravities mercy.
Whatever store clerk had lazily left his shipping boxes out; I am now personally indebted to for saving our lives.
"Is there anything else I need to know?" Jewel cried indignantly
"Yes, I can't fly, I pick my beak, and sometimes I pee in the birdbath!" I spat and brushed packing peanuts from my feathers still surprised to be alive. Our reprieve was cut short as we were spotted by the humans.
Again I was pulled after the crazy bird attached to my leg. Her yanking and pulling almost immediately set me off balance and we were back to tumbling and rolling uncontrollably down a dirty street. I'd had enough.
"Wait. Wait! Just listen to me." I stopped her, forcing her to pay attention. "Flying may not be my thing but walking is! Follow my lead!" I cried turning back down the street. "Inside leg, outside leg, inside-" Jewel cut me off repeating the chant.
Soon, we were flying down the street, well metaphorically anyway. I looked back to check our pursuers and immediately wish I hadn't. Looking ahead I saw a rather dirty alley cat, Mrs. Leeman's Chihuahua immediately came to mind. Without thinking I began to bark at the cat, which leapt high into the air and out of our way.
As we passed underneath, I looked back to see the cat effectively using our pursuers heads as emergency steps.
"See! I'm bilingual too!" I said, absently trying to make up for my many flaws. Jewel ignored me and began to complain.
"Great, I'm stuck the only bird in the world who can't fly!"
"Actually there are about forty species of flightless birds." I defended while keeping an eye on the cockatoo that was still chasing us/
"Duck."
"What? No, ducks can fly." Surely she knew this.
"No, Duck!"
I looked forward just in time to see a wooden box occupy my headspace. I pulled my neck back but still felt the box brush my feathers as we raced underneath. Looking back towards the box, all I managed to see were Nigel's dirty talons. I gulped in fear. Before I could feel his talons grab my neck I lost the feeling of the ground beneath my feet. With another gasp I realized we were falling again.
Oddly enough, my only thought wasn't about our coming demise, but anger I felt for the poor planning of Rio's streets.
What happened next was merely a blur of spinning and colliding colors that only served to make me nauseous and remind me that somehow I was still alive through all of this.
With a crash I opened my eyes to find myself again in a freefall looking over the rest of Rio de Janeiro. Everything slowed for a second as I watched the beautiful night skyline. Another crash and a set of sparks told me that we were still in danger.
I found myself beside Jewel going down what appeared to be a sort of city slalom of corrugated tin roofing, small chimneys, and power lines. Nigel called out in rage and I could tell he was still close behind us. We sped down the rooftops bouncing across the gaps.
Nigel was still closing in. Through my panic and fear I noticed a transformer box. Desperately I grabbed the side of our corrugated sled and grabbed Jewel.
"Hang on!" I yanked with all my might hoping to turn the metal in time. We just missed the pole and the explosion of light behind us told me that Nigel hadn't been so lucky. As the metal ground to a stop on the road, I was grateful the chase was over and still frozen from the entire event.
A tug on my leg made me aware of jewels presence.
"Come on." She said with another yank. "We need to keep moving."
I settled down on the branch next to Jewel, checking her bandage for wear and stress points.
"See, I told you we'd get the hang of it." I looked over to the lovely, if exhausted, bird next to me.
She chuckled a bit, "You were right, but it would have been a little easier without your clumsy butt getting in the way."
I smiled, thinking again of how much we had and could do if we worked together. She leaned in closer against my wing and sighed "Just wait Blu; nights like these will be even better when we're out in our own hollow."
My breath caught in my throat. Shrugging back fear, I turned to speak to Jewel, but she had already tucked her head back to sleep. I let out a soft sigh and tucked my head into my wing. I would just have to cross that bridge when I got there.
It was dark, that's all I could think about was how dark it was. Slowly I moved through the jungle. The chained yanked my leg again, telling me to hurry up. I couldn't get over how dark it was. Moonlight barely filtered through the branches leaving only a silhouette of the frustrated bird ahead of me.
An animal's jaw snapped and I jumped back "What was that!"
"A stick." Jewel bluntly replied. But I was focused on a creatures outline just beyond our trail.
"A-and that?"
"It's just a rock."
I backed up, feeling slightly ridiculous for letting my imagination get to me. No sooner had I thought that than I felt something crawling up my back. I froze. "I-is that a-a sp-pider on my back?" I stuttered
"Will you knock it off? It's just a leaf!" Jewel snapped before looking and brushing the leaf off. "Told ya. Now just come on, we need to find a safe place to spend the night."
This crazy bird wouldn't know safe if it bit her… which was more likely to happen out here than I was comfortable to admit. "Safe? Safe! We are in the Jungle. You know when people say 'it's a jungle out there' I'm pretty sure they don't mean it as a good thing."
"Look I hate to break it to ya, but this is where our kind naturally lives." She retorted testily.
My patience was seriously wearing thin with her attitude. "Hey! Don't talk to me about nature, I watch animal planet, I know all about the food chain ou-"
As if on queue an annoying fly came into my view, buzzing merrily until a large toad grabbed it and ended its life. Just as the toad next to me enjoyed its meal, a snake decided the toad would make a nice meal. My heart raced looking at what could've been me.
"You see, you see! Out here I'm just an H'orderve, a feathery spring roll."
My eyes snapped open, my heart was still racing. Even my subconscious agreed that the jungle was bad. I looked over at Jewel who still slept peacefully. Her words still rang in my head. I choked back some more fear swallowing deeply, dreading what would come after her wing healed.
A/N: Hey! I apologize for taking so long to complete this chapter… wow! I come back to find and extra 1000 views, more reviews, and having been added to a community archive! I'm stunned and speechless. You guys rock! I just hope I can keep writing a good story. Anyway, I have a full list of excuses on my profile page and a full apology there as well if you care. Thanks so much!