Chapter 9- Nigel's reunion with the dog pack

Back in the jungle, a group of certain city dogs was on the move. Brutus and his reduced pack continued their walk through the foliage, keeping out of the sight of any visiting humans, whether tourists or ecology surveyors, to avoid getting spotted and caught and sent back to the dogs' re-homing centre which was the last place ANY of them wanted to be. Certainly not for Brutus for he was too dangerous to be kept as a housedog even though he was less violent than a certain cockatoo. The dogs had saved some of the meat a scout group had pinched from the butchers earlier for a later meal or snack. However, Brutus' pack planned to send another scout group into the city to raid another meat shop for more food once their current supply ran out and it wasn't long until that would happen. The pack had been wandering aimlessly through the jungle for some time now, the desire to get revenge on a certain Dalmatian still seething within them with one MASSIVE obstacle: what plan of revenge to construct and how to implement it. Brutus liked the thought of targeting Milo's mate and puppies and using them as a hostage but he and the other dogs had no idea of where Milo lived now. For all they knew, Milo was now a family's dog with a mate and puppies, or so the pack had heard from some avian residents living in the forest.

As Brutus continued to lead his reduced pack along, his mind swimming in thought about Milo and his possible whereabouts, three of his underlings, Paws the brown retriever, Bryony the black and white Border collie and Adriana the brown Labrador were talking amongst themselves.

"Listen, Brutus may have told us to forget all about Nigel but I have a feeling that he may still be alive you know," said the retriever, his gaze flashing at Brutus who had his glare ahead and leading the pack.

"How do you know that?" asked the collie, Bryony.

"Look, Paws, we don't know if he is or not," replied Adriana in disagreement, "We have not seen the cockatoo for years since our former smuggler groups split into two over severe dispute with profits obtained from smuggling animals and selling them abroad through the black market animal trade..."

As she said this, the black and white spaniel, Otis' gaze turned skyward through the canopy and saw several colourful feathered forms fly over, their happy melodies decorating the air as they went.

"Stupid birds and their happy mood," grumbled the spaniel bitterly and jealously, "They've got homes and friends while we dogs are nothing but nomadic, miserable creatures whose purpose had been shattered thanks to that wretched Dalmatian."

"Join the kennel, Otis," grumbled Bryony as she also glared jealously at the birds skyward. The other dogs also emitted whimpers as acidic as lemon juice. Brutus just flashed his pack a look, shook his head, breathed out an irritated sigh and continued leading his pack on.

"I know the feeling but what can we do?" the Doberman mumbled under his breath. Then the dogs continued on through the undergrowth of the forest. However, they were unknowingly heading in the direction of where a certain feathered friend they once knew was present.

Meanwhile

Nigel trudged through the undergrowth as well, the same bitterness and jealousy boiling within him and like Brutus' group, he stared upward at the happy flying birds soaring through the canopy and chirping happily. However, that glare was FAR more acidic and corrosive than Brutus' group members like car battery acid. Nigel had recently eaten a meal of his own but it wasn't meat stolen from a butcher's as he was not agile and fast enough to attempt this successfully like Brutus' pack. Not to mention the fact that he was grounded for the rest of his life due to his now-useless wings, the CAUSTIC souvenir he had acquired at the talons of a certain blue macaw he now LOATHED the most. His meal had been FAR more disturbing. During his walk through the brush, Nigel had managed to catch a green-winged macaw who had hurt itself during a flight out and had fallen to the forest floor. But rather than just kill and consume the bird as any predator would to eat them, Nigel had brutally tortured the poor macaw and had given it a slow and extremely painful death, relishing its EXTREME agony in the process. After all, this cockatoo was not only psychotic, but EXTREMELY murderous and INCREDIBLY sadistic as well. Nigel ABSOLUTELY LOVED to inflict extreme agony on his most loathed types of bird he often called 'pretty birds' and often his cruelty and sadism veered into territory that not even Brutus and his dog pack would dare place a paw although Brutus had injured and even killed some of his prisoners sometimes but that was out of rage and impatience and those had been largely accidental, though he couldn't care less but Nigel's were VERY deliberate and WAY more brutal. Nigel sometimes tortured some of his 'pretty bird' victims, often brutally and even killed and consumed some of them as food in front of the other prisoners and his dog friends to their UTMOST nausea including Brutus during their smuggling days and before the two groups split up to go their separate ways with Nigel going with Marcel and Brutus and his dog pack with Frank, and even after the split Nigel continued these VILE treatment habits of 'pretty birds' sometimes to the chagrin of his owners. Nigel ABSOLUTELY LOVED the meat of 'pretty birds' but he had also eaten other foods that were totally abnormal for a cockatoo, such as rodents like rats and he sometimes did this in front, often in the most disgusting ways as he could, of his prisoners and even his canine comrades to induce nausea in them. Believe me, Nigel was an ABSULUTELY SICK, SICK, SICK cockatoo and he absolutely LOVED to make everyone else, friend and foe alike, sick to the stomach with his eating habits and several times, he made his dog comrades including Brutus lose their appetite for the fun of it. Furthermore, Nigel absolutely ABHORRED fruit and always wanted to sink his beak into the flesh of other birds and abnormal prey like rats and, more disturbingly, other mammals and he has done this before with non-bird victims. But I digress.

Nigel continued to glare upward at the colourful forms of the bird residents in the canopy as they went about their lives.

"(Bleep)in' scum of the earth, pretty birds," snarled the cockatoo fierily as he glared at the colourful feathered forms, "How I wish I could just fly up there an' break those RATS' wings an' EAT 'EM ALIVE LIKE I DID THAT GREEN-WINGED RAT!"

Then pulling his caustic, rancorous glare from the birds in the above canopy; the vile cockatoo continued on. Gabi was no longer with him and had either managed to flee the cockatoo's abnormally carnivorous appetite or otherwise. Then another thought entered Nigel's head as he remembered catching a glimpse of a dark blue bird flying through the trees some time earlier. Though his sighting of the bird had been mere seconds, Nigel had recognised the bird as a macaw and had winced with rancour. He had assumed that macaw to be the son of 'those two pretty Lear's macaw dirt worms' and remembered the NASTY surgery-requiring scratch that little Lear's macaw gave him on the brow when that macaw stepped on his sensitive nerves and provoked him back in Tulio's Aviary. There were scars of those claw marks given to Nigel by that macaw still present but they were covered by his brow feathers but Nigel had vowed revenge on that macaw if he EVER crossed paths with him again, and his mind swam through a concoction of unmentionable ideas of what he would like to do to that macaw that was WAY too disturbing to describe. Then pushing aside those thoughts about that Lear's macaw Quaoar and the AWFUL (to say the least) thoughts of what he would like to do to him, Nigel continued on. However, he was unknowingly heading in the direction of Brutus' dog pack and was a few minutes away from meeting his long-lost canine companions and fellow smugglers' pets.

Back with Brutus' pack, Brutus and company continued their walk, the dogs talking about Milo and also their former smuggling days and how Milo had ruined it all by having them turned in and taken to the dog pound to be re-homed or face other fates.

"I honestly LOATHE the thought of being a housedog of some common folk or family," said Bryony, "even as a breeding dog but thankfully I've been sterilised or spayed."

"I wonder why Milo was so dumb in choosing that kinda life over catching and smuggling animals as a smuggler's dog," grumbled Paws. Some of the unnamed dogs uttered small yips in agreement. Suddenly, Brutus called at them to stop.

"What is it Brutus?" asked Paws, the spaniel twins Hopper and Jackie right behind him. The other dogs also looked up and flinched when Brutus put up a front paw to command them in the form of a gesture to be quiet. Exchanging glances, the rest of the pack obeyed and lowered their voice tones. Then Brutus spoke in a whisper.

"I see movement through the vegetation," the Doberman spoke quietly.

"A human?" asked Bryony while Otis raised a confused eyebrow.

"No, it's FAR too small," whispered Brutus before he squinted at the form through the vegetation. The form was severely broken up by the crisscrossing blades of the leaves from the ferns and other undergrowth plants. Then the dogs winced when they picked up noises from the form, before recognition welled within them.

"Is that who I think it is?" whispered Adriana. That made hope bubble somewhat more vigorously within Paws.

"Oh, I hope so," whispered the retriever excitedly.

"Now don't allow your hopes to soar above the treetops, Paws," whispered Brutus, "That form could be just another forest dweller like a primate or something."

However, Paws kept his hopes up and did not allow them to stall even an inch. Then Brutus had an idea. He had decided to creep up on the form with his pack and possibly catch the creature. Like his dog pack, he felt a sense of familiarity well within him even though he disagreed with Paws somewhat. Then commanding his pack in a low voice to keep quiet and not to make any sudden moves, Brutus began to lead his pack towards the form. The familiarity sense was also present within the other dogs.

Nigel continued his miserable trudge through the brush with no sense of direction of what to do. However, he did have one idea within his sick head; revenge against Blu and his family and friends for the loss of his flight, but especially the former macaws. From the moment he saw Blu in Manaus, his mate Jewel and their chicks and three of their friends in Manaus when he had the role as a fortune-telling bird, his revenge plan took root and Nigel pursued him and his group into the Amazon rainforest despite not being able to fly. However, he had two sidekicks, Gabi the frog and Charlie the anteater tagging along with him. While there, Nigel had managed to enter the Amazon Untamed auditions hosted by Nico, Pedro, Rafael and Carla, one of Blu and Jewel's first-brood daughters under the guise of 'Bob the Bird' with the leaf-mask and cape disguising his TRUE identity though Rafael had a hunch of his familiarity, proven right at his unmasking. With this opportunity, Nigel had planned to kill Blu with a porcupine laced with frog poison (taken from Gabi who was thought to be poisonous, including herself, at the time) but kept failing when implementing this plan. Nigel attempted to kill Blu again during the wildlife's battle against the loggers for their homes but again failed. Then after the fight against the loggers, Nigel's luck went further south after it was revealed that Gabi was not poisonous, proven when she and Charlie accidentally shot him in the lower back with a spine laced with her apparent poison, as well as Bia's explanation. Then from his return to Rio with Gabi until his escape, Nigel's thirst for revenge against Blu and company has explosively grown and now the cockatoo was UTTERLY consumed with the obsession with it. However, to his frustration, Blu and company were still in the Amazon rainforest but Nigel had hoped that they would return to Rio and this time, he will NOT fail and he vowed NOT to. Furthermore, Nigel decided that his new revenge plan would be FAR crueller and more brutal and he wanted to gear this towards a group of certain other blue macaws and flying fox family as well. Since Blu's grounding of him, the blue macaw species (not just the Spix but glaucous, Lear's and hyacinth macaws as well) had now become number one on Nigel's list of most DETESTED birds with the Amazon flying fox not too far behind since that certain flying fox family was friends with Blu's family. Although Orion and Ahsoka were not involved with Nigel's grounding to begin with, along with Aurora, Sirius, Bellatrix and the others for they had not yet met during the events of Blu and Jewel's adventures throughout Rio, Nigel still DESPISED them because they could fly for one and they were friends with Blu and company for another. Nigel could not WAIT to implement his new ideas on that group and was frustrated that they were not here in Rio right now. While his wicked mind swam in these horrible thoughts of what he would like to do to Blu and the others, Nigel continued walking on. However, he was unaware that he was walking towards a trap, that trap having been set up by a pack of city animals he will be familiar with and not seen in years when he meets them.

Brutus and his pack continued to hide in the green foliage, waiting for the form to approach them. The twin brown and white spaniel brothers, Hopper and Jackie, were prepared to seize whoever or whatever was approaching the group. While the identical twin spaniel brothers did this, Paws and Adriana kept an eye on the surroundings to ensure no forest floor animals and humans were nearby. However, a few marmosets did swing by above the dogs in the canopy but those primates did not see them.

"Boy, I remember us also capturing some primates for the animal trade besides birds and bats,"
said Tom the Dachshund as he gazed at the passing marmosets, "We once attempted to capture some extremely rare flying foxes that lived here but they managed to escape."

"Too bad that roost of them is deep in the Amazon rainforest," grumbled Paws, "If we were to join a group of smugglers now, they would be difficult to reach and it's not just because of their location in the rainforest."

"Their habitat is protected by conservationists," moaned Otis. Some of the other dogs uttered small whines of agreement to this. Just then Brutus whispered, "Hopper, Jackie, you three Chihuahuas, get ready!"

Obediently, these five dogs including three small toy dogs did so and prepared their paws in seizing whoever was heading the dogs' way. The twin spaniel brothers also prepared to draw in the form's attention by taking hold of a fern and made a small noise.

Nigel continued to walk through the foliage when suddenly; a strange sound roused his attention. The cockatoo looked up and began to examine his surroundings. However, all he saw was a massive tangled wall of green plants with brown tree trunks dividing it here and there. However, Nigel did spot one of the large ferns move and he thought he saw some odd drab colours through the entanglement of plant stems. Immediately, the cockatoo began to walk towards the broken and fragmented mass of drab colours, curiosity compelling him to investigate. However, nothing could prepare Nigel for what or who he was about to meet and he was in for a serious surprise. As Nigel got closer, he was suddenly seized by several paws and pulled through the ferns. The cockatoo released a squawk of startle as he was dragged from his spot. However, as Nigel opened his eyes, he was greeted by an explosion of happy and excited barks and astonished dog faces.

"NIGEL!" cried one of them, a hulking black dog with stubby ears. The other dog faces released barks of excitement at seeing their long lost partner for a long time. At first Nigel scrabbled back, his eyes inflated out of their sockets and his tattered crest erected in fright.

"Whoa, whoa, it's only us," said the black dog, a Doberman. Nigel then paused to take some time to take in the familiarity of the dogs, his gaze travelling from one canine to the next. Finally, familiarity pricked at him. "Brutus? Otis? The rest of you dogs!?"

Smiles formed on the dogs' faces, especially the Doberman who Nigel identified as Brutus, and this hulking black dog nodded. Going toward Nigel, he brought the cockatoo into a hug with his front legs.

"Indeed it is us, our former cockatoo partner," cried the Doberman as he did it. Nigel struggled in the hulking dog's front leg hug and grunted. Then Paws came forward, an amazed smile on his face as Brutus broke the hug with Nigel.

"We wondered where you might have gone after we split up," said the brown retriever.

"We thought you might have been given away or something," said an unnamed Scottie dog. Nigel put his tattered wings up and closed his eyes.

"No I haven't been given away when I left you with Marcel and his two idiot assistants," he replied, "We just continued to smuggle... 'pretty birds'..."

"So you continued your only purpose in life in carrying out your fiery hatred for all exotic birds since you lost your career to that green parakeet," said Otis with narrowed eyes, a bored look on his face. Suddenly, Brutus alerted the group, having seen movement through the greenery.

"We'd better get moving," said the Doberman, "There's a small group of humans approaching our spot."

The other dogs and Nigel looked up and saw several large forms move through the foliage, their shapes broken up by the crisscrossing stems and tendrils of the undergrowth. Immediately, the group left their spot and moved on to avoid getting spotted by those humans, which was a group if botanists out on a plant data collection trip.

Nigel and the dogs continued on after evading those botanists and began to catch up on their adventures since they parted ways with their owners.

"So, tell us, what happened and what did you do since our group split up?" asked Paws. The other dogs including Brutus walked alongside cocked their ears to the cockatoo as he prepared to explain his 'adventures'.

"We continued our catchin' and smugglin' business but we geared it towards birds 'cos I was so good at huntin' and catchin' those filthy rats," began the revolting crested parrot, "Then one day, we heard of two blue Spix macaws, both the apparent last male an' female of their species, bein' found so we went to the aviary an' captured 'em."

"You managed to nab those two blue macaws thought to be the last of their species until three more were discovered?" blurted out Paws in astonishment.

"Those two must have been the same two blue macaws that had become parents to three chicks," said Brutus with no surprise, "We tried to catch them alongside some other rare animals."

Then Adriana noticed Nigel's tattered wings and crest and the green vest around his body.

"Why are your feathers in that state?" she asked, "And why are you wearing that silly looking cloth thing."

Nigel shot the Labrador a caustic glare, making her flinch. "You REALLY wanna know, Labbie?"

"Well, I think it's best if you told us," said Brutus in slight irritation at the cockatoo's attitude. Then Nigel began to reluctantly explain. "Those two good-for-nuthin' blue macaws I mentioned threw me into the spinnin' propeller of a plane."

The dogs including Brutus winced violently with some of them emitting astonished and pained barks and 'Oooh's'.

"How did you SURVIVE THAT!?" barked the Doberman in shock.

"I just did," replied Nigel before he raised his tattered wings to show the dogs the extent of the damage from that incident. "Since that incident, though I had survived, my ability to fly had NOT. And now, I'm grounded for the rest of MY LIFE BECAUSE OF THAT BLUE MACAW MAGGOT!" he screeched the last few words with vitriolic MALICE. The dogs gazed at him but then Nigel went on to explain his misadventures in the Amazon Rainforest, starting from the moment he saw Blu and company (excluding Aurora and the others) which seeded and germinated his toxic and insatiable desire for revenge, and began to go after him. The dogs listened intently as Nigel then explained his Amazon 'trip' story. However, he did not mention his 'froggy girlfriend' Gabi, not wanting to be on the receiving end of a barrage of doggie laughs from this pack if he told them about that pesky frog, though he only mentioned that frog briefly, along with the mute anteater who tagged along as his sidekicks. Then after he had finished explaining his Amazon story excluding his fiasco with Gabi, Brutus and his pack looked on in astonishment. A few of the pack members smiled in admiration, however.

"So let us get this straight," said the Doberman leader, "You went after that blue macaw and his family... deep into the rainforest... DESPITE NOT BEING ABLE TO FLY!?"

"Indeed I did, Brutus," replied Nigel without hesitation.

"B-b-but you'd have been an easy meal for some of the most dangerous forest floor predators like a jaguar or a constrictor snake or a croc," said Hopper.

"Unless you're a tough flightless bird like a jungle rhea or a stealthy semi-flying bird like a jungle quail who KNOWS how to survive in that environment, you've NO chance in that vast rainforest if you cannot fly," said Jackie, Hopper's twin brother. The other dogs also uttered more yips of astonished agreement while some of them exchanged glances. Then Brutus raised a paw to the pack to command them to be quiet before putting it down and gazing at Nigel.

"Well, it sure is quite an adventure you have had," said the Doberman with slight admiration, "Us city dogs would NEVER even DARE venture into such a dangerous foliage maze with danger lurking literally behind every leaf and bush and corner. But since we parted ways with you, WE TOO have had quite a Rio adventure ourselves, again involving smuggling birds and other animals with our owners Frank and his assistants."

Nigel began to reluctantly listen as Brutus launched into an explanation.

"Our adventure occurred after you went missing and your owners were imprisoned and the jungle near this city has been set up as a sanctuary by some conservationists. When we heard that three more Spix macaws had been discovered, along with, astonishingly, four more glaucous macaws and two Amazon flying foxes, two more animal species close to the brink of extinction especially the latter, our lead owner Frank hatched a plan to steal those blue macaws and two bats, along with the Spix macaw family of five..."

"You managed to capture FOUR glaucous macaws and TWO Amazon flying foxes!?" blurted out Nigel in shock, interrupting Brutus' explanation, "I-I-I thought those winged rats weren't around here anymore."

"Well this pair of Amazon flying foxes were," continued Brutus, "At least the female was anyway. The male had been discovered and brought in from Peru."

Nigel continued to listen as Brutus went on to explain more about his pack and owners' pursuit of those macaws and bats, jealously listening.

"We were on the verge of loading our captured animals including all the Spix macaws including the family of five, the four glaucous macaws and two Amazon flying foxes and leaving Brazil to sell them through the animal trade for a MASSIVE sum of money, especially for the flying foxes and blue macaws," added Brutus.

"However, things went awry at the airport," added Otis, "our prisoners had somehow got free and during our battle with them, that stupid Dalmatian Milo sided with them and had us caught by the police and dog catchers. Most of us had been re-homed but a few of us, among them Brutus here, had managed to escape. Like your owners, ours had been imprisoned and we had been reduced to nothing more than nomadic dogs who do NOT want the wretched life as housedogs."

"I bet you must have managed without me during your adventures after those blue macaws and fox-faced rats with wings," said Nigel, before an INCREDIBLY psychotic and sadistic smirk appeared on his beak, "especially without my LUUURRVE of TORTURIN' those prisoners, especially those pretty bird maggots! An' I don't suppose you remember me dealin' with that pair of Lear's macaw maggots, especially that male when he tore off my CREST!?" he screeched in bitter malice at the last few words.

"Yes we do and we do NOT wanna hear about your VILE treatment of those animals," growled Brutus in retort, "especially of the colourful birds and some other animals."

"Seriously Nigel," added Adriana, a disgusted look on her face, "Your methods of treatment of them were just HORRIBLE and NAUSEATING to say the least," the brown Labrador winced at those horrific memories to Nigel's chagrin.

"I would love to do ALL THOSE evil things to those feathered scum of the Earth again if I had the chance," the cockatoo crooned evilly with a sadistic smirk on his beak. Then saliva began to grossly dribble from that same rotten area. "An' I fancy a tasty blue macaw..."

"ENOUGH with your nausea-inducing ideas, cockatoo," snapped Brutus, "Let's get to the bitter facts of reality, shall we? First off, our smuggling days are gone and behind us."

"That's not to say that the pursuit of revenge of those that had reduced us to ruins like my flightlessness and you dogs as nomads with no purpose or direction in life..." said Nigel who was clearly refusing to put down the idea of going after Blu and company. "Like I've said, I would gladly torture those pretty birds again. After all," his evil and vile beak's smile widened, "I had a nice green-winged macaw for my lunch. As I ate..."

"SHUT UP, Nigel," barked Brutus, "We do NOT wanna hear ANY MORE of your SICKENING love of TORTURING exotic birds. What you did to our feathered prisoners and some other animals, we do NOT wanna go over again as it makes us, including ME despite me being a tough Doberman, INCREDIBLY sick."

"Yes, especially when you ACTUALLY consumed some... of them... in unspeakable..." stuttered Otis nauseously. Some of the other dogs nodded in agreement.

"YOU dogs have injured many of our prisoners as well, don't forget, especially those pretty birds worms," retorted Nigel, "Especially you Brutus. So why are you savage coyotes calling the wolves savage?"

"I have at times injured and even killed a few of our prisoners, especially when I lost my temper," admitted Brutus, "and I have taunted them verbally for the fun of it but I would NEVER go as far as ACTUALLY brutally torturing and mauling them like you did that Lear's macaw and so many other colourful birds and animals we captured or attempted to capture. And I would CERTAINLY NEVER eat ANY of them like a savage cat."

Nigel rolled his eyes in irritation at the dogs' refusal to hear his sickening enthusiasm in his torturing methods of the prisoners when the group used to be smugglers' pets and he snickered a little at some of the dogs' repulsed faces. Twin brown and white spaniel brothers Hopper and Jackie especially looked like they were going to bolt to somewhere to do you-know-what. Brutus continued.

"But as I've said, our smuggling days are behind us and it is unlikely that we will EVER return to that since our owners are jailed," the Doberman then hardened his glare at the cockatoo, "and I will say this again, this time with even GREATER emphasis: we do NOT wanna hear any more of your torture methods again. UNDERSTAND!?"

"Or you'd be kicked out of our pack and you'll be ENTIRELY on your own again," put in Otis.

"And maybe you'll be captured by some humans and returned to where you were," added Bryony. Nigel pouted and shot the female Border collie a caustic glare but he said nothing.

"And furthermore," added Brutus, "You can forget Blu and the others including the glaucous macaws and that pigtailed Spix macaw as they are not of our concern anymore."

That added to Nigel's caustic pout and he folded his tattered wings like a spoilt chick that could not get his own way. Then the group moved on.