Chapter 18- Trixie is finally found
The storm continued to rage for another two days until finally, a break arrived. The winds dropped considerably and the rains' magnitude was reduced though there was still a shower present. These conditions lessened, flight over long distances became safe and that was the opportunity the flying animal inhabitants of the Sanctuary de Amazon took WITHOUT hesitation since they had several important tasks to focus on and the storm was due to return, meaning this break and the safe flight conditions would not last long. However, a few horrific incidences had occurred during the storm. In Felipe's tribe, one of the trees some of the scarlet and green-winged macaws and the few non-red macaws who had paired up with Felipe's tribe members, such as Ferdinand with Ruby, lived in had toppled over from the winds, crashing into a boggy area with the entrance and exit of the tree's inhabitants' hollow nearly face down in the mud. That tree was home to a large extended family of scarlet and green-winged macaws with one of the scarlet macaws paired up with a military macaw and with hybrid chicks, and they had become under the threat of getting fatally trapped by the sinking log into the mud. Felipe had carried out an emergency rescue on the large family during the storm and had the entire extended family evacuated before their hollow became a death trap. The chicks and any eggs present in the nests had been rescued through a small hole in the hollow used as a window but everyone else too big to fit through the hole had to struggle through the sinking and partially submerged entrance/exit. The family had escaped JUST in time with the final macaw; an elderly matriarch of the extended family, squeezing out of the partially submerged hollow entrance/exit before it finally sank fully into the mud and cut off all access completely. The family and their eggs were then immediately rushed to the infirmary tree where they stayed until the storm lessened but the entire family had been UTTERLY traumatised from the whole ordeal and the narrow brush with death. Then as soon as the storm break arrived, the search for a new tree for the large family immediately began but certain red macaws had other important issues to deal with. Some visitors from the Spix and mixed-species tribe had flown from their homes to here to ask Felipe for help in finding certain individuals who did not arrive as ordered before the storm's arrival in their tribes. Two of these were Trixie and Volo, both glaucous macaws from Rodrigo and Ceu's clan in Augustus and Melissa's very large mixed-species tribe. Felipe had gladly accepted and had sent some red macaw patrollers to help in the search for those missing individuals. Ruby also had an important issue to sort and she had left for the Spix tribe territory to meet with Jewel before going to Rudi's clan's territory to confront the leader of that glaucous macaw flock about his daughter's attempted murder of Bia, one of Jewel's daughters with Antares and Samara. Ferdinand, meanwhile, had decided to head to the mixed-species tribe's territory to help find Trixie with Opal and Sheldon after hearing what had happened to the poor little glaucous macaw.
The other member of Millie and Tillie's gang who objected to the gang's treatment of Trixie and leaving her for dead in the jaguar's den, the female hyacinth macaw teen named Arándana had also left the gang and had returned home but like Raul, she had suffered wrath from the wicked twin sisters. However, her injury had been MUCH worse than Raul's. Unlike Raul who had been clawed over the flank, Arándana had been badly clawed in the face by either Millie and Tillie and was now at the animal hospital built in a deforested area of the sanctuary undergoing human treatment as the injury was FAR too severe even for Falkor the milicinth macaw and his medical team to treat. With Arándana hospitalised and the only source of information of where Trixie had been dumped gone, Augustus and company were left to find the well-camouflaged moth in a MASSIVE tree alone. However, they were told that another macaw who had stupidly been hanging out with the group and who didn't need to be hospitalised for a serious injury was present, and that was Raul from the Spix macaw tribe. He, together with his parents Jacobo and Donna, had been sent to the territory of the mixed-species tribe by Eduardo and Mimi to help find the jaguar's den in which his 'friends' dropped Trixie and left her for dead. While they did that, Augustus and Melissa and the other leaders of the sub-clans had sent search parties to look elsewhere in the territory in case Trixie had managed to escape and had ended up lost in the jungle in the area. Raul had explained to them everything including how Trixie's wing had been damaged such that she could not fly to safety so these other search parties were tasked with scanning the forest floor in and around the home grove as well.
The mixed-species tribe's territory
Raul led a group of search and rescuers in the direction of a certain den through the canopy. His flank scratch given him by either Millie or Tillie had healed up but it was still painful but he knew he couldn't let that bother him now. He had a more important job to focus on and that was finding Trixie ASAP. In the search party behind him were his still-angry parents Jacobo and Donna, Archie, Cersei, Spock (who glided between trees), Roberto, Wikstrom, Bellatrix, Wanda and a number of bat-birds and other macaws and flying foxes. The reason for the search party being so large is that some will lure out the jaguar from its den so that the others can search its den for a distinctive sea-green glaucous macaw that was smaller than a teen her age. Raul flinched as he heard some of the search-and-rescue group members talk behind him.
"I just cannot BELEIVE that Raul and Arándana would be SO STUPID in just forsaking poor Trixie in the home of an INCREDIBLY dangerous predator, with a DAMAGED wing," the troubled Spix macaw teen and Bia's ex heard Bellatrix snarl behind him. However, he didn't need to turn his head to look at the aunt of Trixie as he could tell in her voice tone that she was UTTERLY furious with him. And indeed Bellatrix was, as was Wikstrom and Wanda and the rest of the group members.
"When I heard what that Spix macaw had done to Trixie with that gang of delinquent macaws, flying fox and falcon," said Wikstrom, his orange eyes blazing with WRATH flashing at the shameful Spix macaw flying ahead of the group and leading them to the den, "I nearly choked on my berries."
"And I nearly fainted and our chicks Remy and Emilia burst into tears," said Wanda angrily.
"Mum and Dad (Isabella and Alvin)'s reaction had been MUCH worse," said Bellatrix in a growl. Unlike the macaws and everyone else born and raised here who referred to their mothers as 'Mom', Bellatrix used 'Mum' to refer to Isabella instead, a relic of her time in the UK as a pet along with Sirius and Aurora and that, together with a British accent, was still present. "In fact Mum fainted and we thought she was having a heart attack or something."
"And Sirius... I cannot imagine HIS reaction when he heard what Raul told us he had done to his youngest daughter," said Archie. Bellatrix, Wikstrom and Wanda, together with Roberto, shuddered violently. When Raul had spilled to Trixie's entire extended family and also to Orion and his family including Augustus and Melissa, his parents, and Rodrigo and Ceu, about what he had done to Trixie with his 'friends' and how he had done NOTHING to intervene and had just left Trixie for dead in that jaguar's den with a damaged wing, an EXPLOSION had occurred. The moment Sirius heard what Raul had done, he had lunged at the teen Spix macaw and volcanically SCREECHED at him and had to be restrained and Samara, who had also been there, had BROKEN down in UTMOST tears, together with Tristan, Quincy and Sapphire and also Levi, Aiden and Phoebe. Bellatrix, Wikstrom and Wanda, together with the others who had been present, had violently flinched and Ahoska actually had to take Sandalwood, Hermione, Acerola, Ganymede and Gordie outside to keep them away from the volcanic eruption exploding from the glaucous macaw and Archie had not been there when Sirius EXPLODED. Sirius was NEVER this furious and aggressive and had never been but because of what had happened to his youngest and most vulnerable daughter, he had practically gone Mt St Helens and had almost pounced onto Raul but had been restrained. However, he stormed out of the meeting hollow to vent his anger in an open space to prevent harming anyone else and Augustus and some other leaders had commanded everyone within the vicinity to stay well away from Sirius until his wrath burnt out. The volcanic eruption from Trixie's father had SEVERELY frightened Raul but he received little sympathy from his parents and the others and had been severely told by Rodrigo and Ceu to fly to that den with the group with him WITHOUT delay. But before he left, Samara had given him a DIRE warning as well.
"If our youngest daughter is dead because of you, the consequences for you and Arándana will be EXTREMELY DIRE!" she had yelled at the teen Spix macaw and Quincy, Tristan, Sapphire, Levi, Aiden and Phoebe had also threatened to claw him to a pulp, prompting Raul to immediately take up the task. Now Raul was doing just that and he had vowed to find Trixie alive or else, and he was EXTREMELY frightened indeed, his nerves boiling dangerously within him from the SEVERE dread and guilt at what he had done and he wished he had NEVER joined Millie and Tillie's gang in the first place. But that aside, he KNEW he had to find Trixie and SOON.
As Raul continued to fly along, Roberto spoke in the search group.
"When Raul told us that Volo, another missing macaw, has joined that gang, I was NAUSEATED," said he angrily. Again Raul broke this info to the group.
"His parents are gonna go BERSERK when they hear that he has paired up with a forbidden glaucous macaw," said Archie with dread, "Teresa, Trixie's sister Sapphire and cousin Phoebe told us that he insulted her size and broke up with her the other day to go with his 'new girlfriend'."
"He's gonna be in DEEP trouble and churning waters as well," said Wanda.
"Let's just find this den and rescue Trixie," said Jacobo before he turned to his son ahead of him, "Are we within sight of the den where you left Trixie, son?"
"Almost there," Raul timidly replied.
"She'd BETTER be alive, young lad," snarled Bellatrix angrily, "Or else, as I and Samara have said, the consequences are gonna be INCREDIBLY SEVERE!" she screeched the last two words like a jaguar roar, making Raul flinch as their temperature scorched him but Bellatrix REALLY meant it. Though Sirius and Bellatrix were not as aggressive as certain members of the extended family and group like Jewel, Antares and at times, Blu and even Ahsoka, if their chicks, whether they were their own or their niece or nephew including the non-biological family members like the Spix chicks, and Orion and Ahsoka's pups, were EVER in mortal danger, they can become TOTALLY different macaws that were DEADLY. Raul only got a taste of that from Sirius. He did not want to face that from his sister either. Then within moments, the surroundings Raul recognised melted into view through the clutter of leaves and branches.
"Down there," called Raul and with that, he led the group in that direction. Archie and Spock called the group members who had volunteered to be distracters to the jaguar.
"Right, decoy team, prepare to lure the jaguar out," the former, the muscular bat said.
"Yes, positions," said the latter, the strange four-winged bird with a long semi-stiff tail ending in flight feathers in a strange accent.
"Hold on," a silver pterosaur's voice called the two, "It's empty. The jaguar must have left to go hunting."
Archie, Spock and the others turned and saw the den. To the gladness of the group, especially Raul, the jaguar's den was indeed empty. Spock hardened his glare.
"However, that does not mean that the jaguar has left it completely," he said, "It is still using it as its home so we must NOT be in there too long. Distraction group."
The distraction group gathered around the metallic cerulean and blue archaeobird with distinctive face ridges and he gave them the tasks as being watchers instead. The watchers obeyed this order and flew away to low perches just above the forest floor and took up posts there to keep an eye out for any flash of gold and black in the undergrowth while the rest of the group searched it for Trixie. As they did this, Raul led the others to the den and as soon as they touched down, they immediately entered the den. Raul led the group to the exact spot where he and Millie and Tillie's gang had left Trixie.
"We'd better be fast, you lot," said Archie, nervousness understandably dancing within him. Though he was muscled and a brave flying fox, apex predators especially harpy eagles, always sent his nerves on the edge of trepidation, especially when searching their homes or nests for lost individuals and rightly so. After all, Augustus had lost an eye and wound up with horrific scars taking on an eagle to protect some of his tribe members including his mate Melissa and once, Archie had to search the nest of another nesting pair of the undisputed King of the Amazon Skies while the couple was out hunting to investigate a macaw that had gone missing and he did NOT like it one bit. Searching the homes of apex predators during search-and-rescue missions was one of the things Archie dreaded most. Archie continued, "This is the den of one of the most dangerous floor predators after all."
Raul came to the spot where Trixie had been but the moment he arrived, his heart sank and his body began to tremble. The others gathered around him.
"Did you find her?" asked Spock. However, the metallic cerulean blue and darker blue archaeobird flinched in horror and drew in a gasp while the others looked on including Jacobo, Donna, Roberto, Wikstrom, Wanda and Bellatrix. Scattered before Raul's talons on the dark brown soil were shreds of colour, many of them sea-green and Raul trembled with dread, his eyes welling tears as he gazed at them, the guilt at leaving a certain macaw chick heating up like a human thing called a pan full of water over a stove, a cooking device humans used to cook their food. Some of the searchers including Cersei went to the very back of the den to look for Trixie there. Raul then began to break down.
"B-b-but she was r-r-r-right here..." he stammered but then he found himself in the FIERY glare from a pair of green eyes from one of Trixie's aunts.
"Why you COWARDLY, STUPID..." screeched Bellatrix and with that, she lunged at Raul and tried to grab him to throttle him but Raul, EXTREMELY frightened once again, darted back with a cry of EXTREME terror and crashed into Cersei and a silver pterosaur. Wikstrom surged in and restrained his sister-in-law while Spock and Archie began to check the sea-green and grey feathers which were indeed Trixie's.
"BELLATRIX, COOL IT WILL YA!" barked Wikstrom as he struggled to restrain the ENRAGED Bellatrix as she continued to screech and yell at the extremely frightened Raul, Wanda, Roberto and Jacobo joining in. Bellatrix continued struggling in the four pairs of wings until finally, she reluctantly surrendered and lowered her rage. However, her fiery green glare remained on the frightened teen Spix macaw and he cowered in Cersei's wings. Donna came over and seized her son from the Cuban red macaw while Bellatrix was restrained. Spock and Archie continued examining Trixie's shed feathers before finally giving the conclusion.
"These feathers aren't bloodstained, which is a good thing," said the muscled bat. At the back of the den where a nest sat, Cersei's group appeared.
"And there is no sign of Trixie's body in the stash of the jaguar's recent meals either," said a silver pterosaur.
"Which means one thing," said a military macaw. The other macaws, flying foxes and silver pterosaurs then immediately left the pile of bones left in the jaguar's nest, not wanting to rummage through the prey grave any longer. Bellatrix, still in the restraining wings of Jacobo, Wikstrom, Wanda and Roberto, gazed at the group as Spock then spoke.
"Yes, it looks like she's managed to escape the jaguar's den an' into the jungle," said he. Astonishment tore through the group.
"Then how can a LITTLE CHICK like her MANAGE to escape the jaws of the AMAZON'S MOST DANGEROUS FLOOR PREDATOR!?" Roberto blurted out, his crest flared out. Archie came in, a serious glare on his face.
"I don't know but I daren't have us stay in here any longer to investigate that," said the large dark brown muscled bat, the urge to take the group out of this den quickly reaching critical for obvious reasons, "we need to be outa this den NOW before that large jungle cat returns. Our job here is done."
And with that, he and Spock called the others together and within moments, the entire search group had evacuated the jaguar's den and were airborne once again and safely out of the lair of the most dangerous predator of the forest floor. The watchers also joined them, having seen no sign of any gold and black flashing in the undergrowth from their posts. Disappointment bubbled within them, especially Raul as he was gutted and UTTERLY devastated.
"Only the other search-and-rescue parties are our hope of finding Sirius and Samara's lost chick now," said Archie sadly.
"And she'd BETTER be alive because if NOT," yelled Bellatrix before her fiery green glare turned to a certain teen Spix macaw, "We will NEVER, EVER forgive ya after this."
Raul flinched violently at this, and again from the glares of his parents Jacobo and Donna. If Trixie was EVER found dead, at all, it could mean SERIOUS repercussions and Raul dreaded this, GREATLY. Then the group disappeared into the canopy above.
Not too far away from where Archie and Spock's group was, another search party was looking for Trixie in another part of the undergrowth outside the mixed-species tribe's home grove. The search parties were concentrated in the area around the jaguar den where Trixie had been left and they had been following Raul's group for most of the flight and had spread out to begin their search while Raul led his group to the den itself. This group was made up of hyacinth macaws, two forest falcons and a few capuchins who had offered to lend a more specialised search in the undergrowth. Salvadora, the matriarch of the hyacinth macaw clan, and Fidel, the patriarch of a family of capuchins, had opted to join this group and he and his assistant monkeys were checking under every fern and behind every rock on the forest floor. Like with Spock and Archie's group, watchers kept watch for any dangerous forest floor predator, these watchers being mostly hyacinth macaws.
"Hey, Fidel, any sign of the missing glaucous macaw chick?" a hyacinth macaw, an unusually small adult male who was only about the size of an adult Lear's macaw and resembled one except for the dark teal markings on the face and sometimes the chest being absent, called to the capuchin. This macaw was Teresa's uncle and also the uncle of Victor, one of Teresa's cousins and was the hyacinth macaw with the size abnormality Teresa mentioned earlier. Close by, said two cousins were hovering nearby, having opted to participate in the search. Teresa and Victor, his signature fruit shell cap, came in. Fidel turned to look up at the three in the air after replacing the rock.
"No, Bastian," the capuchin patriarch of his family replied while two of his older sons checked other rocks, "she's not behind any of these rocks."
"She has possibly escaped from that jaguar's den, hasn't she?" called a forest falcon.
"I'd be INCREDIBLY astonished if she has," said Salvadora as she checked a crack in a nearby tree trunk, the hole's size being big enough to shelter a chick like Trixie, "Escaping after getting knocked out and dumped into the den of the biggest cat in the Amazon rainforest with a damaged wing has INCREDIBLY slim chances, you know."
Fidel and his sons climbed up a tree trunk and onto the lowest branch. Then an ANGRY scowl formed on the capuchin's face.
"Volo's parents Wally and Cynthia are GOING UTTERLY NUTS regarding the news of their son's joining of that gang of forbidden macaws led by Rudi's troublesome chicks," said he angrily, "And I doubt Volo will be welcome back into our tribe anytime soon."
"Maugrim, one of the flying foxes, was evicted from our tribe because of his association with Rudi's NASTY son Tybalt mostly," said a forest falcon, "Same for that young forest falcon and one of our young members, Gaston, after he had befriended Katrina and also Aleera, Marishka and Verona, the daughters of Rudi and Tremaine and had participated in Alexandre's incident when he tried to protect that Lear's macaw who had human ties from that NASTY glaucous macaw teen..."
"Let's just keep our focus on looking for Trixie," said Salvadora and the others did and continued their search.
Somewhere else in the forest floor-and-above level of the jungle, a little macaw chick had taken shelter in a small crack in a tree trunk above the roots, that crack big enough for a small glaucous macaw with a size abnormality to fit in. She was very weak, cold and hungry, having not eaten for two days now for she could not fly into the canopy to look for suitable food with her damaged left wing, its primary flight feathers and the most critical part of a bird's wing ripped out. Trixie lay propped against the wall of the crack, snoozing. Her plumage, which was dishevelled and messy and marked by a few half-healed wounds and her head bearing a massive bruise where the hyacinth macaw (not the female, Arándana, but the other one, the male) had struck her with a rock to knock her out was present, visible just under the grey head feathers. Trixie's head flick was a mess and dirt also caked the rest of her plumage, the result of trudging through the dirt on the forest floor. Trixie had been wandering about the jungle on the floor during the past two days while the storm was raging. Thankfully she had been sheltered from the brunt of the storm's fury as the overhead canopy acted like a shield of patchy umbrellas and dampened the magnitude of the downpour down here but that had been the least of Trixie's worries. Her greatest worries had been the prowling predators that lived down here and Trixie had had a VERY narrow escape from one of them, a jaguar. She had regained consciousness just in time and had fled and to add, the jaguar had already caught prey and had been too preoccupied with dragging the animal back to its den to eat. But that narrow escape had severely traumatised Trixie and the past two days had been an UTMOST nightmare. In fact this nightmare was on par with Aurora's narrow escape from the pair of hungry harpy eagles after the fire had died down some years ago. That breeding pair of apex air predators had been relentless in their pursuit of Aurora with the intention of having her for their evening meal as fiery as the inferno Aurora had faced before meeting them. However, Trixie's situation was VERY different. Not only was she flightless with a damaged wing thanks to Millie and Tillie's gang but she had been thrown into this situation on purpose while Aurora's situation in the fire had been accidental. As she had been wandering through the undergrowth, Trixie had been hoping that there had been groups of human visitors nearby but unfortunately, the storm had been too severe for the human conservationists to visit so that had been out of the question. The storm and the darkness it shrouded the Amazon rainforest with had also rendered flight unsafe for search-and-rescue groups to carry out search missions for lost members of their tribes so throughout the entire storm until the break, Trixie had been all alone and had to find her own shelter.
Around Trixie who was now weak, cold and exhausted in her temporary shelter, the best one she could find, sunrays slashed through the shadows of the above trees through the holes. The sounds of animal calls stirred the weak little glaucous macaw and she uttered murmurs and eventually opened her eyes. She then gazed out into the now-lighter undergrowth with the golden blades of sunrays. Trixie winced from the pain of her half-healed wounds, her left wing where the flight feathers had been pulled, her empty stomach which felt like a hollow tree trunk inside her, and the heaviness of her shattered heart caused by Volo's joining of Millie and Tillie's group and as a result, betrayal of her. Furthermore, Trixie was very cold and she shivered and because she was so exhausted, her vision was blurry so the undergrowth resembled an amorphous mess of indistinguishable shapes and lines. However, she knew she had to be out of there as she was still not safe from the meat-eating hunters that lived at these lowest levels of the rainforest. Trixie was about to prepare to climb out of her temporary shelter when her ears, though weakened, picked up a sound. At first, she thought it was just an ordinary birdcall but then she realised that it was something different. It was talking and among the talking, shouts exploded; shouts of her name. Hope boiling within her, Trixie tried to trace the sound to its source and began to screech and wail as much as her strength would allow her to reply to the call and to attract the callers' attention. Though Trixie was weak from two whole days without food and from wandering through the undergrowth in the cold storm, she was determined to make herself heard, so she began to scream and wail at the top of her voice, shouting "HELP, DOWN HERE!" and the like. However, she was unaware that she was attracting danger as her shouts had also been picked up by one or two additional receivers, receivers that Trixie would NOT desire.
Not too far away, another search group, one consisting of mostly glaucous, blue-and-gold and great green macaws and a few flying foxes and archaeobirds, among them Alvin, Ahsoka, Acerola, Hermione, Pietro, Anakin, Ferdinand and also Opal and Sheldon, were searching for Trixie in this area of the mixed-species tribe's home grove's periphery. Hermione, Acerola, Opal and Sheldon had insisted they join the search-and-rescue party for they wanted to help though Ferdinand and Ahsoka had objected at first, the pair concerned for their safety but then they relented at their insistence. However, they gave them a strict warning to be CAREFUL during the search mission and the four had agreed. While Ahsoka, Acerola and Hermione had gone with the group, Orion and Sandalwood had stayed behind to help Augustus and Melissa to gather some more food with their assistant gatherers for the hollow as well as teach Ganymede and Gordie about foraging and finding food as well as which fruit is suitable for picking and eating. Though they were sometimes carried by their mother, sisters or friends over long flights, the twins were close to being weaned with plant material soon to take over their diet of their mother's milk. Ganymede and Gordie had initially wanted to join in the search for Trixie but Ahsoka had commanded that they go with their father, older brother and grandparents instead to learn about foraging and they reluctantly did.
As the search group continued their task, worry boiled within many of them. However, so was fury against Raul for his participation in causing Trixie's resulting predicament.
"I still cannot BELIEVE that Raul was SO senseless in just leaving Trixie to her fate wit that bunch of horrid marauders, among them her ex Volo," growled Ahsoka angrily, "It's understandable that Sirius would explode like that at him since Trixie is his and Samara's youngest and most vulnerable daughter. I certainly would if that victim had been one of my OWN pups..."
"He's put himself in a VERY difficult situation with Sirius and his large family but his situation isn't just limited to them," said Ferdinand as he flew along with Sheldon and Opal and searched in the branches and under the leaves, the two Catalina macaws calling her name. Like everyone else in Blu's central group and their families, the Catalina sis and bro could NOT believe that Raul had participated with Millie and Tillie's group in doing such a thing and cowardly left her for dead in a jaguar's den. Then Acerola gazed worriedly out into the jungle.
"She's been missing for two days now, hasn't she?" she mumbled, "The storm had prevented us from flying out to search for her."
"The weather watchers had reported of another wave of the storm on its way," said Anakin as he glided in and landed on a nearby branch, "So we MUST find that missing macaw and get her to Falkor's infirmary for treatment for cold and any injuries Raul's so-called friends may have inflicted on her according to him."
"Reminds me of that other chick I found with Carolina, Cersei and Archie two days ago," said Pietro as he dropped a fern leaf after checking under it, "Now that he is dry we have tried identifying him while he was sleeping but we couldn't recognise him. We even had a number of glaucous macaws with chicks including Rodrigo and Ceu in to check if that chick belonged to any of them but they all shook their heads and couldn't recognise him."
"He may be from the other clan of glaucous macaws led by the troubled Rudi, son," said Alvin nearby, "After all, they're the only other small flock of glaucous macaws living on the Sanctuary de Amazon."
"That's a possibility, and a troubling one at that," said Ferdinand as he and Opal emerged from a tree hollow after not finding Trixie in there while Sheldon checked under some flowers, "knowing what Rudi's family, Tremaine and many of the chicks, are like not only with human-associated animals, but animals with disabilities and disfigurements or abnormalities too."
"Trixie was a common target for Millie and Tillie and company's bullying because of her unusually small size," said Opal.
"So it's no surprise they decided to do the unthinkable and leave her for dead in that den," said Sheldon, worry for the little macaw chick boiling within him.
"Teresa and Victor's uncle Bastian had been severely picked on by some glaucous macaws from that clan as well," said another glaucous macaw, a female sea-green one, "since he's an unusually small hyacinth macaw only as big as us or a an adult Spix or Lear's."
"Did they also pick on Mr Augustus for his harpy eagle injuries too, Mrs Neva?" asked Sheldon. The female glaucous macaw named Neva gazed at the Catalina son of Ferdinand and Ruby with a look of dread and anger.
"They did, yes, especially Rudi," said she to Sheldon and Opal's shock and that of Ferdinand and Ahsoka, Alvin, Hermione and Acerola. Then another glaucous macaw, another sea-green female and a sister of Neva, came in, an OUTRAGED look on her face.
"AND especially Tremaine," said Neva's sister, "In fact she scoffed at him while our tribe and clan leaders went to establish the truce of no intrusions into each other's territories when Rudi and his glaucous macaws settled there, and joked about his encounter with that harpy eagle."
"You're kidding us," said Ferdinand angrily. The two glaucous sisters, however, shook their heads to confirm that they weren't.
"Grandpa Augustus' near-death with that harpy eagle is NOT something to laugh about," growled Acerola.
"Certainly not the loss of his eye and those scars he had to sustain to protect Grandma Melissa and the others that the eagle caught," put in Hermione. Ahsoka nodded in agreement.
"But enough of Rudi's clan's attitude towards disabilities and disfigurements," said Neva, "We MUST find Trixie before the storm's second wave comes."
The others then resumed their search in the showery canopy. However, they were inching closer and closer to Trixie's location without noticing. As they continued their search, Pietro expressed his worry for his missing niece.
"I sure hope she's okay and has found some form of shelter," said he, "She's been missing for two days now."
"Those marauders from Rudi's clan have been bothering us for so long now," muttered Ahsoka angrily. She was especially worried for her youngest sons Ganymede and Gordie who were still too young to defend themselves from potential threats. Certainly not threats armed with a hooked beak and sharp talons and because the pair were young bats with membranous wings, they were far more vulnerable than Neptune, Arrokoth, Chrysocolla, Finnick and Lavendulan, five more family additions and Blu and Jewel's second brood and Roberto and Brisa's children respectively. Acerola also shuddered as she remembered Neptune's brush with the savage and violence-loving Katrina when she almost strangled Bia to death if it wasn't for Virgil's intervention, Bia's unconscious body still fresh in the second-born daughter and child of Ahsoka and Orion's mind. Katrina's siblings and half-siblings were ESPECIALLY violent, among them Tybalt and also Aleera, Verona and Marishka whose names reminded Acerola of the brides of a certain fictional vampire she had once read about on Joanna's laptop during her family's visit to her mother's human companion and former foster carer. Like those brides, the three were especially bloodthirsty and savage. If Ganymede and/or Gordie EVER ended up at the mercy of ANY of these macaws, they would NOT stand a chance, even if they were to use their identical looks to try and confound these savage macaws in an attempt to outsmart them. Thus Ganymede and Gordie had been strictly forbidden from flying out into the jungle on their own and HAD to have some birds with them alongside some adult bats, preferably their parents or their older siblings. Those birds served as backup in case the bats did not want to risk injury to their membranous hand-wings in fending off the macaw threats. Pietro gazed at Ahsoka equally worriedly.
"I can see you're worried about your younger sons Ganymede and..." he began when suddenly a SHHH exploded from Ahsoka nearby and she raised a membranous hand-wing to tell him to be quiet. Pietro and the others froze in place and began to listen. It was a cry and at first, Pietro thought it was from his own head. However, it was indeed real. He shot the other group members a look, "Do you guys hear that?"
Ferdinand and Alvin flew in to listen while Opal and Sheldon went to trace the sound to its source visually. The sound was coming from the forest floor. The others also stopped to listen.
"Is that who I think it is?" asked Alvin, hope brimming within him. Anakin then landed on a branch near the Catalina macaws and began to trace the sound to its source visually as well. However, the strange four-winged bird's face fell when he saw something head in that direction on the forest floor. In fact it was three forms, all four-legged with one large and two small. All three sported a golden pelt with black distorted spots and markings all over their bodies.
"Mr Anakin," said Sheldon as Ferdinand appeared.
"What is it?" asked Opal. Anakin didn't reply and he called the others together.
"Down there," he said, his wing claws pointing in said direction. Then the sounds of wing flaps, both from feathered and membranous, beat the air as the group headed off in the direction of the sound's source and the three forms, a jaguar mother and her two cubs.
Trixie found herself at the centre of three pairs of golden cats' eyes flooded with hunger from three four-footed forms as they paced towards her. The large one licked its lips as its eyes remained fixed on the quivering small sea-green and grey form and potential snack for her two cubs but these three jaguars were not the only predators that had found Trixie via her shouts for help. A long, slender vine climbed up the tree trunk and on the end of the scaly vine, a head reared up and a pair of eyes locked onto Trixie. From its mouth, a forked tongue darted out, flicked at the air and returned inside. Then the vine continued its advancement towards Trixie as she continued to quiver at the predators as they remained fixated on her. Timid whimpers exited her beak and she scrabbled back into the shelter but she did not have a chance. Trixie had managed to escape one jaguar but this time, she was trapped. The shelter was within reach of the large jaguar's front paws and a snake was approaching her from nearby. Trixie began to scrabble back into her shelter in vain to escape the advancing mother jaguar as she approached her spot but before the jaguar could raise a paw and insert it into the crack to seize the potential snack, a screech exploded from the canopy above, seizing the mother jaguar's attention and pulling her gaze upward. The two cubs also began to look around while the snake continued to advance on Trixie from the side of her shelter. Trixie also shot a confused look at the change in the jaguar mother's behaviour but none of the four noticed a sea-green and grey comet explode from some leaves above and swoop down on the jaguar.
Alvin surged towards the rosette-pelted cat, his talons poised to strike and his eyes blazing green volcanic ash-plumes. Then before the jaguar could locate the angry squawk's owner, she was raked over the head by a set of flying barbs. Trixie flinched violently as the large gold and black cat released a wail and her cubs backed away in surprise. The jaguar then shot an ENRAGED glare after Alvin as he swerved round when suddenly; a grey and royal blue macaw appeared behind her head and leaped onto it. Snarls of surprise and anger erupted from the jaguar's mouth as she began to thrash violently as Pietro then began to assault her head and ears by biting and clawing at them to drive the jaguar away from his niece. Then several more glaucous macaws appeared to help drive the mother jaguar away, some going for the cubs to also keep them away from Trixie. After the jaguar's attention was removed from Trixie, a blue and yellow form appeared before her. Jubilation, the first one Trixie had EVER felt in two days, exploded through her.
"UNCLE FERDINAND!" cried the smaller-than-average glaucous macaw teen and with that, she jumped into the wings of the macaw, which was indeed Ferdinand. The blue-and-gold macaw hugged his glaucius niece.
"Thank goodness you're ALRIGHT, TRIXIE!" cried he. However, someone yelled, "FERDINAND!"
Ferdinand turned round to look at the shouter, Anakin as the archaeobird looked on with horrified eyes, together with Ahsoka, Acerola and Hermione and the others from a branch above when suddenly, a hiss sounded nearby. Ferdinand felt dread wash over him like a tidal wave and he turned in the direction of the hiss's owner but the moment the blue-and-gold mate of Ruby found himself before a pair of reptilian eyes and an open, pink mouth armed with two large white claws on the end of a green slender vine rear up, he froze in terror. Trixie cowered in his wings. Sheldon and Opal cried for their father.
"Ferdinand, MOOOVE!" cried Neva while the other macaws and flying foxes shouted the same. However, Ferdinand remained too rooted to the spot by fear from the snake, a venomous one, to respond. Then the serpent prepared to lunge at the blue-and-gold macaw with the little glaucous macaw in his wings to plunge its fangs into the former to envenomate him but then Ahsoka did something TOTALLY reckless, ESPECIALLY since snakes were her least favourite animals. Dropping from her branch and into the air, her black membranous wings spread wide; the ginger and red flying fox swooped towards the snake in an ENRAGED screech.
"MOOM!" cried Hermione and Acerola together.
"AHSOKA!" yelled the others but Ahsoka ignored them and surged towards the snake.
"No, Ahsoka is AFRAID OF SNAKES!" cried Anakin. Nearby Ferdinand and Trixie and the snake, Alvin and Pietro's group continued attacking the jaguar family of three with some flying foxes helping. Alvin left the battle to check on Ferdinand and Trixie when suddenly, a paw from the mother jaguar appeared and struck him out of the air like a fly. Horror-filled shouts from his groupmates, especially Pietro, exploded as the aging father of the latter, Wanda, Sirius and Bellatrix crash-landed into some ferns. Pietro and several macaws and a flying fox rushed to him while Ahsoka surged towards the snake threatening Ferdinand and Trixie. Everything happened in slow motion as the snake then entered into its lunge at Ferdinand, its curved, venom-filled fangs aimed at the blue-and-gold macaw's wing clutching Trixie but before the fangs could connect, a bundle of ginger and red fur with black hand-wings suddenly appeared and slammed onto the snake's body, yanking the snake's head and protracted fangs away from Ferdinand's wing, the tips of the fangs millimetres from hitting their mark. Then to the UTMOST astonishment of everyone, Ahsoka began to wrestle the venomous snake away from the two macaws, her wings wrapped tightly around the snake's neck and throat. Shooting Ferdinand a commanding glare, the human-raised flying fox yelled, "GO, FERDINAND, GET TRIXIE TO SAFETY!"
Ferdinand then snapped out of his fear-induced paralysis from the snake, took Trixie into his talons and flapped off in the direction of Anakin, Sheldon, Opal and the others. Now TWO battles took place on the forest floor as Ahsoka wrestled with the venomous snake while Alvin's group battled the jaguars. The snake then began to thrash and writhe with Ahsoka clinging for dear life onto its back. Then three great green macaws and Neva rushed in to help Ahsoka deal with the snake. Acerola and Hermione went to help but another great green macaw barred their way for their safety and the pair immediately abandoned the idea. The two fights continued to occur and while all this was happening, Alvin was airlifted to safety by Pietro and several other glaucous macaws to the main group.
Alvin was not as young as he once was and the battle with the jaguar to drive it from his granddaughter had exhausted him, the paw swipe being the final knockout blow to him from the fight. He was SEVERELY exhausted and stunned from the whack from the jaguar by its paw. As soon as he was back on the safety of the branch with the others, Anakin examined him. Nearby, Trixie was in a union hug with Hermione, Acerola, Opal and Sheldon who were also relieved to see her alive and well. Anakin had also sent some of the macaws to alert the other search-and-rescue parties and Augustus and Melissa that Trixie had been found.
"We MUST get Alvin and Trixie to Falkor's infirmary and FAST," said the archaeobird. Hermione then checked Trixie's left wing and breathed in a horrified gasp upon seeing the damage.
"Anakin," she said, "All of Trixie's left wing flight feathers have been ripped out."
Anakin gazed at Trixie's tattered left wing and saw that it was indeed missing the most crucial feathers that gave a flying bird its lift.
"We'll examine her wing back home," he said when suddenly, a MASSIVE roar of agony exploded from below. The others looked down and to their astonishment; they saw a green vine swipe at a large gold and black rosette pelted cat as the latter drew back from the former and swiped the green vine off its paw. The snake was dislodged from the jaguar's paw and it quickly slithered into the undergrowth. The jaguar's opponents then retreated along with the snake's fighters. After rejoining the others, Neva, puffing and panting from the fight, looked down.
"You should have seen Ahsoka, folks," she said, before pausing to enter a panting episode before continuing, "She dove out of the way as the snake lunged at her to bite her and it ended up biting the jaguar in the leg instead."
"We'll need to find some human visitors to deal with that family of jaguars then if the mother has had venom injected into her leg," said Anakin, "If that mother dies, the two cubs are gonna be left without the guidance, protection and providence of a parent and not be able to survive on their own."
As he said this, several great green macaws took off to deal with this secondary task while the others took Trixie and Alvin and carried them off. Ferdinand shot Ahsoka a FURIOUS glare.
"WHAT were you THINKIN', you RECKLESS FURBALL WITH WINGS!?" the blue-and-gold macaw shouted, "YOU could have SUFFERED a POISONOUS SNAKEBITE!"
Ahsoka, however, didn't reply and continued to help carry Alvin with her daughters. Ferdinand shook his head in disapproval.
"You can be SO reckless at times, Ahsoka," he grumbled, before a grateful smile replaced the frown, "All the same, you were brave in saving my and Trixie's life from that snake."
"We'll see you back at our grove once we have found some human conservationists to deal with the injured jaguar mother and her cubs," called a great green macaw from below as he and the other three great green macaws began their search for a human group.
"Okay, see you there," Anakin called and with that, the divided group continued their routes.