A/N 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. Enjoy!
8. Fire and Ice
The flame's heat and Lt. Gunderson's image was still fresh in my mind when the truck came to a stop. With a jolt, the dingy truck bed began reversing towards a line of brightly colored tarps and stands. Without a thought, I stood at the end of the truck bed taking in this new sight; just the thought of a little fruit was making my beak water.
Suddenly I found myself propelled forward as the truck came to a jarring stop. With a crack the wood railing I held to gave way leaving me to tumble towards the ground. My head still ached from intimately meeting the surfboard and now my entire body joined in on the complaining. I forced my head off the ground to see Jewel Glaring at me.
A loud crack resounded as a melon assaulted my skull, filling my vision with stars and yet more internal complaints. I seriously wondered the odds of me surviving the rest of the day.
"I'm going to chew through my own leg if this doesn't come off soon." Jewel grumbled, the sound of her voice hurting my ears. Surely I had a concussion, if not several.
Raphael landed next to us with an all too casual air about him. "Relax; if I know Luiz, we're right where we want to be."
My head ached, giving up on the painful process of deciphering what was going on I just let myself take the sights in, hoping the migraine would begin to fade. I watched the chaos of the market, as humans bought and traded fruit. Soon however, my attention was back on Raphael who had begun talking with two small birds. I could swear I'd seen them before. I stared at them intently; trying to place there faces when the round one froze and stared at me.
"Hold up! Rewind!" The red and grey bird exclaimed before flying strangely towards me, his wing beats separated by strange twists and turns. "Ain't that the bird from the cage?"
It hit me as he said it; these two were the strange pair of birds from the car ride, the ones who had so ineffectively tried to open my cage. I focused back on the conversation, it was the canary's turn to fly to me before leaning in.
"Baby's got beak."
What did that even mean? I focused, my head throbbing intently, these birds were speaking gibberish. As far as I could tell it was English, but the phrases and dialect were foreign to me.
"- I wanna be like you." The cardinal finished as it donned on me, at least basically, what they were saying.
"Oh, Oh, it's not what you think, we're just chained together." I tried to clarify
"Hey I'm not judging"
"Keep it spicy."
"Oh yeah"
Again this strange duo confused me, their sentence conveying nothing but non-discernable slang. Before I could sort it out, they continued.
"It's time to take it to the next level!"
Confused, I glanced at the structures around me noting their quality craftsmanship. "Wh-what's wrong with this level?"
The cardinal, Pedro, flew at my face. "Oh come on! This ain't the level, the next level's the level! You gotta shake your tail feathers!" He finished with a swift wave of his backside. Before I could protest further I found myself being pushed along by Raphael.
"Come on you love birds, you're in Rio, you should enjoy it."
The toucan guided us through the busy street towards whatever it was that they had talked about. I couldn't help but notice the rampant miscommunication. Whatever it was that I was being dragged up to, the thought of it was beginning to frighten me.
We rounded a corner, to find a curtain blocking our path. Above us a sign had been crudely written: Club Paradise. Yes, now I was sure I didn't want to be here. The pounding bass seeped through the entrance and I could already feel myself starring on a future episode of COPS.
As we passed through the heavy curtain my beak dropped at the sight before me. My eyes were drawn to the lights and colors as the danced and chased each other through the room and over the crowd. The number of birds in this club astounded me, is this, what they did all day? I watched as the moved and bounced along with the current beat, noticing the large spoonbill that had lost himself in the music and made himself the center of attention. It was all dazzling and inspiring. I had never seen this many birds together outside of watching discovery channel or the geese as they migrated.
The cardinal called Nico flew by my head, breaking my train of thought before turning in the air to face the rest of us. "Welcome, to Paradise" He stated smoothly before flying into the crowd.
I continued to look around acknowledging the yellow bird briefly. "This is amazing!" I stated simply. "-Despite all the obvious health code violations." I added noting the overused outlets and lack of emergency exits.
"I like you, nothing you say makes any sense!" The toucan laughed before his voice was lost in the crowd and music. Jewel and I continued to follow him deeper into the club brushing against the dancers until I bumped into Raphael. It was only then that I noticed the music had died down and Nico was speaking. A flash of light blinded me briefly and I realized that somehow the three of us were now in a spotlight with all the other birds staring at us.
I shied back hoping to escape the attention we were obviously drawing until the light dimmed and I heard the cardinal calling out to the crowd. Suddenly, the beat picked up and I noticed Nico and Pedro taking their place on the stage.
Before long, Nico dropped into singing a song he had obviously sung many times before. He and Pedro worked through the first verse playing off each other and gaining the full attention of the crowd. The beat picked up as it the two sang. I realized that these two birds were not just strange but talented to.
Before the end of Nico's verse I found my foot tapping to the beat; almost startled, I watched it for several seconds wondering why it defied my desire to stop. The chorus erupted in a blast of rhythm and heart.
I suddenly found myself looking out across Rio watching the morning routine as each bird sang, grateful for a new day. The beat overcame me and I began to dance, a young chick in his hollow that had been captured by the music.
The memory receded and I found myself dancing like I had never danced before. "What are you doing?" Jewel asked as I moved beside her.
"Uh, uh, I don't know." I stared down at myself, unable to stop and unsure if I wanted to. I continued letting myself get lost to the beat, enjoying the rhythm and the breeze as my feather moved and rolled to the music. With a brisk turn I opened my eyes and froze.
Before me, Jewel had begun to dance, letting her wings and body spin and sway gracefully to the music. She too was lost in the beat, and now I was lost in her rhythm. A nudge brought me back to the club with a start.
"Hey, she likes you." Raphael nudged again glancing towards the angel in front of me.
I shook my head in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Haven't you been listening?"
"No" he replied "but I've been watching. Just be yourself." Before I could disagree he shoved me away. "Go on!"
Off balance, I stumbled into Jewel, disrupting her dance. I pulled myself away and began to apologize. She pushed me back with a playful laugh and began to dance again. With a chuckle, I let my awkwardness go and focused on the bird in front of me. She moved, I moved, she turned, and I turned. Soon we found ourselves dancing step in step, the rhythm taking us back into its arms.
I couldn't help but watch what was gracing my eyes. The crowd faded, our chain was gone and it was just us and the music. I pulled her in and spun her out, keeping in step with her hypnotic grace. The two of us danced for what seemed like an eternity, Jewel lost in the music, and I lost in Jewel's presence. I drew her in, sensing the end of the song. We spun close together. With a gentle push I launched her into the air.
Her wings extended to pull herself higher before she began to sing. I was truly watching an angel, both in form and in voice. We were in the spotlight again, but I didn't care, my gaze focused on Jewel as she slowly descended, ending her solo and the songs momentum.
She landed softly and our eyes connected. Without thought, I leaned in closer to her. My heart fluttered when she began to lean towards me. Did this mean she really did like me?
Before I could find out, I was again blinded by bright light. I wanted to hurt whatever bird was operating the spotlight. I put a wing up to block the light, squinting as my vision began to slowly clear. The roof of the club had been torn away, reminding every bird that it was still midday.
A gang of monkeys dropped down from the remnants of the clubs ceiling before regrouping in front of me. This is why I don't travel; I mentally panicked, remembering the shows on TV about gang violence. The squat little monkeys separated to reveal what could only be the gang leader. He wore Jewelry on his arms and a gold Rolex around his waist.
"You two are coming with me." He commanded arrogantly. Fear twisted my gut as I looked at the number of these primates facing us. Maybe we sh-
"In your little monkey dreams." Jewel interrupted my thoughts defiantly. Spitting at the leader's feet.
With the chances of solving this peacefully dwindling to nil, I backed Jewel with all I had. "Yeah!" I agreed before spitting to finish off my show of courage. What I managed to do was cover my neck and wings in my own failed spit-ball. "That was meant for you!" I recovered, pointing at the gaudy leader who only laughed. I inwardly groaned, cursing myself for not learning the simplest of things.
Before I could wallow in my clumsiness anymore, I realized that Raphael had stepped in to intervene. Surely if anyone could smooth ruffled feathers it was the father of seventeen. However, he was pushed away by the marmoset leader. I braced myself for the blow Raphael was about to receive, but was surprised when it didn't come. The spoonbill who had danced so outrageously grabbed the monkeys arm
"You mess with my friends, you mess with me!"
"And Us!" All the other birds shouted in agreement. I was surprised at the support we suddenly had. I glanced over towards Jewel, before staring the marmosets down. My confidence had been bolstered; we could get out of this.
The silence was heavy and overbearing as our two groups stared each other down. I felt my heart begin to race and fear once again twist my gut. Still nothing happened. For what seemed like an hour I stared at the monkeys as they glared back.
"Bird verses Monkey!" the cry rang out and chaos ensued. I found myself dragged along by Jewel, who had leapt into the fray. The scene surrounding me was little more than swirls of color and streaks of brown.
We found ourselves backing towards a crate. Jewel ducked as a marmoset flew over her head. I just managed to evade another that had launched itself towards me. Looking back I noticed a third leap off the crate performing flips that would make a gymnast proud. Without thinking I stepped aside and raised the chain on my ankle allowing the monkey to trip over it. I stepped back giving Jewel a quick smile as she did the same, giving a slight bow in celebration.
I turned to see the leader tackle me to the ground; he stood above me, ready to finish me, his Rolex belt shining in the sun. Just as panic set in again I felt a sharp tug on my leg before seeing a look of intense pain cross the marmoset's face. I watched him with a hint of remorse as he slumped to the side moaning.
With a light grunt I righted myself and shot a look of gratitude to Jewel. Her attention, however, was drawn to the trolley that had already left the station.
"We gotta go!" She cried before taking off down the alley with me in tow. The sprint was unfortunately cut short by a group of marmosets that encircled us. Instinctively we backed into each other hoping to keep an eye on each primate.
Before anyone could make a move, I hit the ground as my foot suddenly rose above my head. I glanced down, er, up at my feet to see the spoonbill carrying the two of us by the chain that bound us. I looked back down with a sigh expecting to see the alleyway dropping away. Instead I saw an enraged marmoset grab my wing and pull.
I let out a yell of pain as the marmosets chained together hoping to stop us, or pull my wing off, probably both. I closed my eyes, which had now formed tears, and hoped they would let go. There was a loud crack and suddenly we were moving again. I opened my eyes, half expecting to see those blasted monkeys down below with my wing.
My heartbeat steadied and I relaxed as I realized I still had both my wings and most of my feathers. I let out a tentative laugh as the war-zone dropped ever farther from us.
The spoonbill dropped us on the trolley as it continued along its tracks. I glanced down, grateful to see my wings and feathers in order.
"Thank you!" I called out
"Any time!" The spoonbill replied amiably as he flew back towards the fracas.
"Hello? Earth to Blu. Earth to Blu."
"What, oh sorry, I got lost in thought for a second." I responded, turning from the window towards the voice. The sun was shining into the aviary building and onto Jewel making her feathers glow a brilliant hue. The Beautiful macaw just stared at me blankly before sighing.
"Blu, like I was saying, we'll make it through this."
"I know, I know, we've flown, run through the streets, and fought monkeys! But this is different! I can't help with this." I turned from her, letting the silence sit. Below us, Tulio and the other staff busied themselves with the tasks of treating several birds that had come in.
"You know what, no!" she replied angrily turning me around with her good wing. "Tulio said it was probably a simple infection! I'll be fine." She paused, shifting her gaze to the floor before continuing quietly. "You think I'm not worried? Blu, I know how serious infections can be. I need you; I need you to be strong. For me." He voice trailed off.
I let a shudder pass through my body. She was right; I was being no help to anyone. I turned my head and popped my neck. "You're right, Besides, I know Tulio is right! A simple infection, nothing to worry about! You'll be up and going again in no time."
I looked back at Jewel, who smiled appreciatively at me. Fear still gripped my stomach, but I was stronger with her and I wasn't about to let anything take her from me again. "Alright, as soon as Tulio gets the blood work finished, we're going to get you back to bed. I don't want you to lift a feather until your better!" I spoke sternly, managing to rouse a laugh from Jewel rather than obedience.
"Whatever you say Dr. Gunderson." She replied before nuzzling into my side.
A/N: Hey, thanks for reading, I'm really enjoying this story and seeing at least a few of you enjoy it as well. That said; expect another chapter from my other story before I continue this one. Happy Reading!