Chapter 3- poachers afoot and captured
A few weeks have passed since Aurora, Sirius and Belle had successfully learnt to fly and over this time period, they had been practicing flying and perching to strengthen their flight muscles. However, Bruno STILL refused to learn to fly due to his immense fear of heights and flying. In fact, he had even refused to approach the entrance/exit hole or even be carried by his adoptive parents or anyone else. Before Alberto and his two flying fox friends had found him on the forest floor, Bruno's wicked biological mother had abandoned him but as mentioned in the previous chapter, she didn't just take him to the forest floor and left him there. Rather, she dropped him from a height and just left, sending Bruno plummeting through the canopy and onto the floor. Though he had survived the fall, the fall had left him SEVERELY traumatised and afraid of heights, which was why he refused to fly or be carried. This revelation SEVERELY troubled Erico and Clarinda and they sometimes sobbed, sometimes comforted each other but sometimes they also argued. Once or twice, their biological chicks, Tomas and Aurora, had to move to Alvin and Isabella's hollow to give their parents some space when things got REALLY stressed but thankfully, they didn't need to stay in the glaucous macaws' hollow for too long and could return once things calmed down. The pair was clearly stuck with this MASSIVE obstacle and it seems that they had their work cut out for them regarding Bruno. It was going to take a LOT of effort to deal with this problem. Not to mention Bruno's refusal to fly or be carried was a MASSIVE burden to the dream of leaving Tijuca Forest on the search for more blue macaws and Amazon flying foxes.
One day, Erico decided to take his mate and biological son and daughter out on a flight to give each other and Bruno a break and also to introduce Tomas and Aurora to Rio to educate them on what a human place looked like. Bruno had been left in the care of Alvin, Isabella, Sirius and Belle who had already been out to see Rio the day before. As the four Spix macaws flew along, Erico began to explain to them what a human city was.
"A human city is basically a large collection of humans' constructions they call houses and buildings," the father explained to the preteen and the chick as they flew alongside their mother Clarinda, "Smaller human's places are often called towns and villages but Rio is MUCH bigger with a LOT of buildings grouped together."
"I thought humans could live in the jungle like us," Tomas said.
"Some humans do live in other habitats like a jungle or even a desert based on what your maternal grandmother, my mother, told us," said Clarinda, "But most of them usually live in this places called towns, villages and cities."
"Cool," Aurora squeaked in fascination while Tomas simply smiled before asking "Will we actually visit a human city when we get the chance?"
A scowl at this idea formed on their parents' faces and they shook their heads.
"Absolutely not, kids," replied Clarinda sternly, "Though some birds are fine with doing that with some even living as pets to some humans, humans' places are, all in all, extremely dangerous."
"Yes," said Erico in agreement, "They're sort of like manmade jungles and around every corner and in every nook and cranny could lurk a dangerous animal. City dogs and cats are especially these."
"But that's not all," put in Clarinda, "Many of the humans themselves are dangerous. Since we are Spix macaws, part of an EXTREMELY rare species of bird, if we are spotted, EVER, we could end up caught."
"Alvin and his family and Alberto and Lily's flying fox clan ALWAYS avoid entering the city," Erico continued, "Though the Amazon flying fox clan have strong trust in a group of humans who study the jungle, especially bats and they are hoping that they will come up with a method of protecting our jungle home from poachers."
"Poachers?" Tomas and Aurora asked together.
"Humans who capture animals for their own selfish uses, especially those of rare species," Clarinda growled, bitter hatred boiling within her voice tone, "Such humans are the worst bane of the human world to us. Alvin lost his mother to poachers when he was a chick while Alberto's little flying fox clan has had a close brush with them shortly after Alberto and Lily became mates."
"We just hope you two and Bruno, Sirius and Belle and also our Amazon flying fox friends' pups including Ginger, the daughter of Alberto and Lily, will NEVER, EVER have to encounter them," Erico continued, hatred against poachers also present in his voice tone, "Once we start our journey out into the rainforest to search for other macaws and bats of our species, we hope that we'll be well away from them, but..." Erico's face then fell as a certain chick came to his mind. Clarinda, Aurora and Tomas gazed at the look on the father's face and immediately knew the obstacle he was referring to: Bruno and his refusal to fly. However, the very thought of just dumping Bruno with another family of macaws or other birds made the Spix macaws wince. They did not want to abandon him like his biological parents did. Putting aside the aching thought for Bruno, the four blue macaws flew on.
A few minutes later, the Spix macaw family arrived at a branch and perched onto it.
"This, kids," Erico said with a gesture to the cityscape, "is Rio."
Gasps of awe entered Aurora and Tomas' beaks and their eyes widened as they took in the cityscape of Rio. The cityscape was stretched out beneath them like a rock bed and unlike the colourful trees they lived in with their community; the city was drabber and artificial. A wide variety of buildings such as houses was present and crisscrossing the drab rock bed were thin grey ribbons called roads. A brown hill topped with white was clearly visible; Sugarloaf Mountain and another key landmark, a grey person with his arms stretched out mounted atop some sort of stone overlooked the city; the Christ the Redeemer statue. Ahead of the city was the rippling azure carpet of water, the Atlantic Ocean and separating it from Rio was a strip of beige called Copacabana Beach. And while Tomas and Aurora were in awe of the city, Erico and Clarinda looked down at it with frowns.
"That city may look fascinating, kids," the former said, "but as we've said before, it can be extremely dangerous."
"Yes, only the most sensible of birds and animals can visit it," put in Clarinda, "It is NOT for rare animals such as us."
The awed faces of Tomas and Aurora fell as disappointment at being forbidden from visiting Rio dispelled their hopes but their parents had good reason to forbid them from visiting Rio. It was dangerous to rare animals after all.
"What sort of animals live in that city, Dad?" asked Tomas.
"City dogs and cats mostly," replied Erico, "Many of them are kept in the confines by their human owners but others simply roam like predators in our home of the jungle. However, the cats and dogs of either category are UTTERLY dangerous to macaws like us, especially city cats since they are cats like margays."
"Natural enemies to us birds," said Clarinda. Tomas and Aurora gazed at their parents and resumed gazing out at the landscape of the city with sighs. They did not know what a city cat or dog looked like but Erico and Clarinda did not want them putting themselves in danger just to find out. Then Aurora gazed at the Christ the Redeemer statue.
"Wow, humans are capable of making things like THAT?" she asked.
"Humans are excellent builders and toolmakers," said Clarinda, "Even humans that live in jungles and deserts. Their building and planning skills are VERY important to them for their survival."
"Sort of like how we have our own set of skills to survive in our homes?" asked Aurora.
"Yes, except a human's range of skills and level of ability are MUCH more complex," said Erico. Tomas and Aurora smiled in fascination at this fact and resumed gazing at Rio, especially the Christ the Redeemer statue which was clearly the product of skilled humans in the subject called sculpting. Aurora wondered what sort of other skills humans had but again, that was a forbidden subject for her parents were EXTREMELY distrustful of humans and they wanted their kids and also Bruno to absolutely not trust them either (with the exception of some human friends their Amazon flying fox friends and other birds and animals knew). Alvin and Isabella were also distrustful of humans will absolutely NOT let their chicks Sirius and Belle ANYWHERE near them or their constructs. Overprotective they may be but they wanted to ensure the safety of their offspring due to their rarity. Then after a few more minutes as evening was approaching based on the dulling sky, along with Aurora and Tomas' bedtime, Erico declared the trip over and the four Spix macaws left their perch overlooking Rio to return home.
Back at the Spix macaws hollow, the glaucous macaw family continued to babysit Bruno who was still lying in his bed nest. Bruno had refused to leave his bed nest much since Aurora, Sirius and Belle had taken their first flight and had been saturated with feelings of disappointment and guilt as he felt like he had disappointed his adoptive parents, aunt and uncle for not learning to fly in addition to being a burden on them. As the little Lear's macaw chick continued to lie in his nest weeping quietly, tears running one by one down his cheeks, Alvin, Isabella, Sirius and Belle gazed over him with worried and sad looks on their faces in addition to UTMOST disgust at what Bruno's own biological mother had done to the poor chick.
"We can't leave him here when it's time for us to go on our quest of finding other Spix, Lear's and glaucous macaws and Amazon flying foxes," said Isabella.
"Well, we can't carry him due to his immense fear of heights and flying, Isabella," said Alvin.
"And we certainly can't just leave him with another macaw or bird family to raise in addition," Isabella added, "If we did that, then we'd be no better than his cruel mother," as she said this, rage and disgust at Bruno's biological mother flared so she turned round, walked a few steps and released a short snarl. Sirius and Belle flinched when they saw their mother vent a little. They hated seeing their mother angry and they were especially nervous when she wore her disciplinary look when they had done something naughty. A few days ago the pair had left the nest without their parents' permission and wandered into a toco toucan couple's nest and were caught and returned to their nest, the father with a complaint and Isabella and Alvin had given them a good telling off about intruding into other birds and animals' home space without their permission and both the brother and sister had learnt the lesson. This time, however, they were not in the wrong and Alvin gently assured them this. Then the glaucous parents walked further from their kids and Bruno to prevent scaring them as they began to let their rage loose controllably.
"I just cannot BELIEVE that that STUPID LEAR'S MACAW (BLEEP) would do SUCH a HORRID, HORRID THING TO HER SON," Isabella hissed furiously, keeping her voice off to prevent the three chicks from hearing the bad word she used to call Bruno's mother, "Dropping him onto the forest floor from above the canopy like he was just a piece of rotten fruit and then leaving him to die while he was still a recent HATCHLING. No parent bird in their RIGHT MIND would EVER do such a thing to a HELPLESS LITTLE CHICK, much less a HATCHLING! If I did that to either Sirius or Belle, I would have been UTTERLY MORTIFIED and would go looking for them even to the point of UTMOST exhaustion until they are found, even if it meant going without eating and sleeping for DAYS," Isabella then took a minute to calm down before continuing, "I mean, why didn't she just give the chick to another bird family, preferably a macaw one, rather than just drop him onto the forest floor?"
"I know," Alvin whispered, "No wonder he's become so afraid of learning to fly or be carried," he flashed a look at the weeping Lear's macaw chick as Sirius and Belle talked to him, trying to comfort him, before resuming the conversation, "And his blatant refusal to fly or be carried is causing us a LOT of worry and stress, especially for Erico and Clarinda. Surprising really as Alberto and his flying fox friends had carried him from the forest floor to us..."
"He was just a hatchling at the time," Isabella replied tearfully, her eyes sending tears running down her cheeks, "But Alberto and his two flying fox friends had been feeling UTTERLY guilty despite it not being their fault. We don't blame them at all and Alberto did off to help us but his main priority must be his mate Lily and daughter Ginger."
"Mom, Dad, are you arguing?" came a squeaky voice. Alvin and Isabella turned and looked at Sirius standing nearby, gazing worriedly at them.
"Oh, no we're not, son," replied the father, "We're just talking about what happened to your Lear's macaw cousin and why he wouldn't fly. Nothing you've done wrong."
"Yes, we didn't want to frighten you or have you hear any potential bad words come out of our beaks due to our anger against Bruno's mother and her abandoning him like that," put in Isabella, "Can you please return to Bruno and your sister please? We won't be long."
Sirius nodded and obediently left to join the other two chicks while his parents continued to talk. Then after finishing the conversation, Alvin and Isabella rejoined the trio of chicks. However, as the couple did this, a screech exploded from outside, alerting the five including Bruno and they stiffened from the alert. The chicks were also seized with fear.
"What was that?" asked Isabella. Then suddenly, another screech exploded from outside accompanied by a scream, making the four glaucous macaws and Bruno wince again. Then Alvin decided to go out and investigate.
"Stay here with our kids and Bruno, Isabella," the father said and with that, he left for the entrance/exit hole, "I just hope Erico and his family make it back here safely from their trip to see Rio..." and with that, he disappeared out of the hollow, leaving Isabella to hug Sirius, Bruno and Belle as the three became frightened by the disturbing noises.
Meanwhile, Erico continued to lead his mate Clarinda and chicks Tomas and Aurora back to their hollow. The sky above them was now in the process of fading to dark blue and soon, night will have taken over completely. Aurora and Tomas were getting tired, indicated by frequent yawns escaping their beaks and their parents knew that they must be in bed soon. However, the four Spix macaws were completely unaware of what was about to hit them.
"Once we get back to our hollow, you two, straight to bed, okay?" Clarinda told her tired kids.
"Alvin and Isabella will be putting their chicks straight to bed as well once we return and they, after looking after Bruno during our outing, move back into their hollow as well," said Erico, before his own beak emitted a yawn, "And as for us parents, we won't be too far behind our chicks."
"It's been quite a long day, I can tell you," Clarinda said equally tiredly. Then four continued their flight back to their hollow. However, as the outer trees marking the outskirts of the Spix macaws' community melted into view through the darkening air, a red form with colourful wings exploded out of them and rushed for the blue macaw family. Erico and his family immediately stopped to a hover as they saw the form, a green-winged macaw, rush towards them and to their surprise; they saw that his face was laced with the characteristics of unadulterated terror: widened eyes and beak open for frantic breathing. His body language added confirmation as well. Then as soon as the terrified green-winged macaw's eyes found the four Spix macaws, he immediately accelerated his flight towards them.
"Oh, Erico, guys, thank goodness," the macaw yelled in relief, "You'd better get your family outa here NOW and QUICKLY!"
"Whoa, Henrique," cried Erico as the red macaw slowed down just in time before he could go crashing into him, "What's the problem?"
But nothing could prepare the Spix macaw family from what exploded out of their green-winged macaw friend's beak next and it was the word every jungle animal, especially those of rare species and those that have experienced them before, DREADED most.
"Poachers," Henrique managed to blurt out, "There are poachers afoot in our habitat and they are goin' CRAZY in catching us birds and other animals. You MUST find Alvin and his family including Bruno and GET YOUR CHICKS OUT OF THIS PLACE QUICKLY!"
Erico and Clarinda exchanged horrified looks while Aurora and Tomas were seized with fear. Though they had never experienced poachers, they knew it was not good. Then thoughts for a certain macaw family and adopted chick flared within their minds, especially the Spix macaw parents.
"I think..." began Aurora but Clarinda commanded her to shut her beak as she hastily took her and Tomas into her talons while Erico barked at Henrique, "GET US TO OUR HOLLOW AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"
Henrique nodded, whirled round and rocketed off. Erico and Clarinda with Tomas and Aurora firmly in her clutches for they were too small to fly at high speeds only an adult macaw can fly at, and charged off after the green-winged macaw.
As the five macaws soon entered the vicinity of the Spix and glaucous macaws' hollows, they soon saw a horrifying scene. The dusk air of the canopy was flooded with countless feathered rockets emitting terrible screeches of terror as birds scrambled to fly to safety from the initiator of the chaos, described to them by Henrique as a group of poachers. Horror seized Erico and Clarinda as they saw the chaos and immediately, they continued their hasty flight to their hollow.
"Look OUT!" cried Henrique. Erico and Clarinda looked up and saw a few small comets, blue finches, rocket towards them. Because they were seized by UTMOST terror from the poachers, they were oblivious to everyone else in their way as they were too focussed on getting themselves to safety. Immediately, Erico and Clarinda parted to allow the small flock of finches through and Clarinda almost lost her grip on Aurora and Tomas but thankfully, she managed to keep them held in her talons. The two chicks released cries of first when their mother did a sudden move but their mother issued a quick calming command to them. Then the Spix macaws continued their hasty return journey to their hollow after Henrique. As they flew along, Tomas emitted a scream of terror at something, prompting Erico and Clarinda to look in his direction and to their UTMOST horror; they saw a red-bellied macaw get seized in some sort of giant spider web-type object. The terrified macaw released screeches as the webbing entangled its body and wings and plucked it out of the air. Pulling their gaze off the macaw, the Spix macaws continued, a group of macaws more important to them in mind for there was nothing they could do for the red-bellied macaw anyway.
Soon and to the family's relief, the Spix macaws' hollow melted into view. Erico saw a familiar azure and grey macaw.
"ALVIN!" he called and shot over to him with Henrique, Clarinda and their chicks after him. Then after sharing a brief hug of relief, the two males broke it and began to talk.
"It's your adopted chick Bruno," Alvin said, "HE WON'T COME OUT!"
"Where's your mate and two chicks?" asked Erico.
"I've sent them to wait in the safety of the leaves of our tree over there to wait for us," Alvin nodded to his family's hollow, "Now that you've turned up, you NEED to get YOUR family to safety too. You go and meet my mate and chicks and get out of here while we see to Bruno."
"We're NOT leaving you," Erico retorted. But at Alvin and Henrique's insistence, the Spix macaw dad reluctantly obeyed and took his family to the tree where Isabella, Belle and Sirius were waiting.
"ISABELLA!" cried Clarinda as she saw the familiar blue and grey form waiting in the tree and immediately went over to her and gave her a hug. Tomas, Aurora, Sirius and Belle, the latter two also UTTERLY scared by the poachers, also shared a brief union hug before they had to break it when their mothers ordered them into their talons for the hasty evacuation. Then the macaws left the tree and began their escape to safety.
"WAIT!" cried Aurora, "WHAT ABOUT BRUNO!?"
"WE CAN'T LEAVE BRUNO BEHIND!" yelled Sirius. Belle and Tomas released cries of agreement.
"Alvin and Henrique have him covered," Clarinda told the four, "But firstly, we need to get YOU four to safety from these thieving intruders, now PLEASE be quiet until then."
Aurora, Tomas, Sirius and Belle then closed their beaks and obeyed as their mothers began to take them to safety.
Erico continued leading his mate and Alvin's family through the storm of other fleeing birds. Around them, more and more spider web nest flew in and entangled more birds and sent them plummeting to the earth but these were not the only threat pursuing the birds. In the trees themselves, fleeing monkeys also escaped flying nets, mothers clinging to their babies desperately as they rushed to safety. As Erico and company flew along, they dodged more feathered missiles and at one point, a small honeycreeper accidentally bumped into Isabella, prompting the glaucous mother to bark at it to watch it, she had chicks in her talons. Erico flashed a look back in the direction of his tree, hoping that Alvin and Henrique had managed to seize Bruno out of the hollow and hoped that they were on their way before continuing. He did not want to leave Bruno behind like his cruel parents had done and wanted to see the Lear's macaw chick taken to safely along with his own chicks and the glaucous macaw family. He had hoped to be reunited with Alvin and Bruno once they were all out of this danger zone. Putting that hope aside, Erico continued with his and his glaucous macaw friend's family through the feathery blizzard with several flying nets thrown in.
As Erico continued to lead Isabella and Clarinda, their talons holding Sirius, Belle, Tomas and Aurora firmly, carefully but quickly through the blizzard of fleeing birds, a feathered form appeared out of the trees and swooped right towards the group of blue macaws. This bird had jet black feathers which made it almost invisible against the darkening night sky but it was not a macaw as its beak was pointy and not hooked, and its talons had three toes pointing forward and the fourth pointing back rather than two pointing forward and two pointing back as in a macaw. It was instead a corvid and it glided right towards Erico, its claws outstretched ready to attack. Then the black bird crashed into Erico and sent him into a clumsy flight to the horror of the female macaws and the chicks.
"DAD!" cried Aurora from Clarinda's talons. Then the corvid swooped round and flew towards Erico for a second attack, its eyes blazing with determination to bring the Spix macaw down but this time, Erico re covered from the first attack and saw it coming. Immediately, the male Spix macaw raised his talons and the moment the corvid came close, he raked his claws over the corvid's face and engaged it in battle to protect Isabella, Clarinda and the four chicks as the enraged bird fought back. After several seconds of this, Erico knocked the bird out with a talon-punch to the face and sent it careening towards the forest floor. However, after he had warded off the attacker, screeches of terror flooded his ears. Erico shot his gaze in the direction of the screeching and to his UTMOST horror; he saw a group of blue macaws plummet towards the forest floor as well, strings entangling them for one of the flying spider web nets had managed to catch them. Immediately, Erico folded his wings and dived down after them.
"ISABELLA, CLARINDA, CHICKS!" he cried. Clarinda, Isabella, Sirius, Belle, Tomas and Aurora continued to scream as they continued to plummet towards earth and within moments, they crashed onto the forest floor. Erico touched down nearby and rushed over to the downed macaws as they struggled in the tangles of the netting.
"ISABELLA, CLARINDA, USE YOUR BEAKS to BITE THOSE THREADS!" he cried. Immediately, the adult female glaucous and Spix macaws set to clamping their beaks onto the netting binding them and began to cut, snapping the threads and breaking them. Erico rushed in to help.
While Erico sought to Isabella, Clarinda and the four chicks, Alvin continued to try and convince Bruno to let him carry him from the Spix macaw's hollow and get him to safety while Henrique, together with more macaws, fought against more black corvids trying to enter the hollow to seize the adult male glaucous macaw and the Lear's macaw chick.
"Bruno, come ON," Alvin commanded to the Lear's macaw as he cowered timidly in his bed nest and refusing to budge, "We NEED to get outa here! Please let me pick you up and carry you to safety!"
Still Bruno refused to move. Then Alvin, seeing no other choice, then decided to pick Bruno up and take him out of the hollow whether he liked it or not. After all, there was no time to simply coax the Lear's macaw chick into going along with this and getting nowhere. Alvin then went over to Bruno to pick him up but before he could wrap his toes around d the terrified Lear's macaw chick, a black feathered form suddenly appeared, knocked Alvin aside, seized Bruno in its talons and darted away, trampling over Alvin on the way out. Screams exploded from Bruno's beak as he was hauled away by the corvid out of the hollow. Then Alvin's rage and the instinct to protect the chick sprung into action. The adult male glaucous macaw scrambled to his feet, launched himself out of the Spix macaw's hollow and past Henrique and the other macaws fighting more corvids and after Bruno's kidnapper. Then with an enraged screech, Alvin landed on the back of the corvid and began to score his claws into the bird's back and clamp his beak onto its neck to make it drop Bruno. Corvid crows of agony exploded from the black bird as it took its turn to screech and it began to writhe to dislodge Alvin from its back but Alvin kept a firm grip. As it writhed, Bruno was released from its talons and was sent plummeting towards the earth. He flailed and screamed on the way down. Alvin, upon seeing this, then raked his claws over the corvid's face and dove down after the falling Lear's macaw chick.
"Bruno, FLAP YOUR WIIINGS!" the glaucous macaw father cried out to his adopted Lear's macaw nephew. However, Bruno was too seized by terror to do it properly. When he saw that Bruno was just seconds from hitting the forest floor, Alvin folded his wings, swooped down and seized Bruno out of his fall with his talons. Then the glaucous macaw regrouped with Henrique and some other macaw friends after they had fended off more corvids and they went off to find Erico and the others.
Back on the forest floor, Erico, Isabella and Clarinda had finished biting their way out of the netting and the mothers who still had Sirius, Belle, Aurora and Thomas in their talons, were finally free. On cue, Alvin appeared with Henrique and the macaw friends, the former clutching the frightened Bruno in his talons, out of the blizzard of more fleeing birds, pursuing corvids and flying nets. Around the group on the floor, netted birds were being seized and caged by more animals but these weren't birds. They were four-legged furry forms and Erico immediately identified them, to his disgust, city dogs and cats but he had no time in rescuing those birds from those cats and dogs' clutches as he would get himself caught. When one of the dogs went in to grab the blue macaws, Henrique lashed at it and clawed it over the face, sending it running away, yelping from pain from its scratched face. Then Erico and company got prepared to flee now that everyone including all five chicks was together.
"Right, let's beat it," the Spix macaw father said but before he could lost into flight, Clarinda gazed with fear skyward. Erico saw this and paralleled his gaze with hers. To his surprise and unnerve, he saw a form hovering in the sky. This form had white feathers, a bright yellow crest and dark grey beak and feet, the former hooked like theirs. Its body build was hulking and its eyes were brown, and those brown eyes were staring menacingly down at the Spix and glaucous macaws and the other macaws with them, connecting eyeball to eyeball with Clarinda's. In her talons, Tomas and Aurora also gazed at the form and shivered. Erico then calmly told his mate despite feeling intimidation boil within him from the hovering white parrot glaring at them like a predator in a whisper, "Clarinda, come on, we have to get moving."
Clarinda remained transfixed on the white crested parrot as it continued to hover overhead.
"Clarinda, just pull your eyes from that parrot and let's leave," Erico commanded a bit more urgently. Alvin, Isabella, Sirius, Belle, Bruno, Henrique and the other macaws also saw the white parrot and shivered as the parrot continued boring into them with its menacing brown-eyed glare. Then Clarinda felt her nerve snap and lofted into flight with Tomas and Aurora in her talons. Isabella darted after her with Sirius and Belle. Suddenly, the white parrots swooped down like a hawk and brutally attacked them.
"NOOOOOO!" Erico cried out and lofted into flight to intercept the white parrot as it brutally clawed his mate and Isabella. He then crashed into the white parrot and began to engage it in a BRUTAL and SAVAGE aerial battle to protect his and Alvin's mates. However, the white parrot's attack on the female macaws had made them drop Aurora, Tomas, Sirius and Belle and they crashed onto the forest floor like rocks while the macaws themselves had been wounded and they also crashed. Clarinda bore the worst injury and she was immediately seized by a city cat and stuffed into a cage. Alvin, with Bruno in his talons, then rushed over to the scratched Isabella, her wing badly clawed by the white parrot as she scrambled to find the other four dropped chicks. The glaucous macaws cried out the four chicks' names and shot anguished gazes around them while Henrique watched in horror as Erico the white parrot continued to exchange brutal claw swipes and bites. Feathers, both white and blue, flew everywhere and wounds were torn open. However, though Erico put up a good fight against the white parrot, the parrot soon overpowered him and as it did, it seized the male Spix macaw by the neck in a talon grip so hard that it cut off Erico's breathing like a noose. Both the battlers were covered in bald patches and injuries, some of them bleeding but Erico bore more of these marks than his opponent. Erico, his brow bleeding from one of those nasty claw marks and struggling for breath then found himself gazing directly into the brown eyes of his holder, those eyes saturated who the UTMOST brim of sadism, bloodlust and malice. Then what came out of its beak chilled the Spix macaw to the bone and the voice tone matched the parrot's gaze in concoction.
"Pretty birds sure are VEEEERRRMIIIIN!" and with that, the white parrot took Erico to a higher height and with all its might flung the Spix macaw toward the trunk of a nearby tree. Erico then slammed headfirst into the trunk HARD and flopped like a piece of wet grass onto the floor. Immediately, Henrique, Alvin and Isabella who had managed to find the four dropped chicks with Alvin still holding Bruno, immediately rushed over to the downed Spix macaw, Aurora and Tomas screaming for their father. As soon as they had gathered around the fallen Erico, Henrique tried to shake him awake. However, all they got was silence and when Alvin checked his Spix friend's neck for a pulse and found none; that was when realisation crashed upon them like a bolt of lightning slashing the air. Screeches of anguish exploded from the group while Aurora and Tomas cried for their father to the white parrot's delight and that white parrot burst into a maniacal laughter. Upon hearing this, Henrique shot the white parrot an EXTREMELY enraged glare while Alvin and Isabella trembled. Sirius, Belle, Aurora, Tomas and Bruno also quivered as the white parrot proceeded to give them an EXTREMELY frightening glare like a predator ready to pounce.
"Whassup, pretty birds?" the white parrot crooned in a taunting voice, "Lost your beloved friend and father? Ooooh, I'm so, so, sorry. I guess I'm gonna have to give ya ALL a NICE BIG HUUUUG..." it then hovered lower in an intimidating fashion with its claws opened wide like a cat's outstretched paws. Tomas, immediately overcome with EXTREME terror, then released a PIERCING scream and darted away against Alvin and Isabella's protests. Sirius went to flee after him but Alvin seized his son and restrained him, not wanting him to get caught by the city dogs and cats and also the corvids, ravens and crows, and caged with the other unfortunate birds. Then what happened next sent another MASSIVE wave of horror crashing over Alvin and company. As Tomas continued to flee, a white head on a long neck suddenly appeared and seized him by the neck in its orange and black beak. However, this bird was not a parrot as it had a snake-like neck and a large hulking body, larger than the white parrot's. This bird was ragged and had countless scars slashing through its plumage. It sported a set of head feathers that resembled messy greyish-white blades of grass cascading down the sides and back of its head and its left eye appeared damaged and closed. Three gashes of scar tissue ran over the damaged eye but the other eye of the new bird was functional based on it stil being open and the colour of that eye was blue similar to some of the macaws. However, there was nothing pretty about that eye. That eye was flooded with sadism, bloodlust and PURE malice just like the white parrot's brown eyes.
Alvin and the others looked on in UTMOST horror with Isabella screaming as the white snake-necked bird continued thrashing Tomas, its orange and black beak still gripping his neck, back and forth and violently like a dog and as soon as it was done, it threw the preteen chick's body to one side. The parrot looked on as the white snake-necked bird, clearly a waterbird, glared back.
"I can do BETTER than THAT, Vecna," snarled the parrot at the snake-necked bird.
"You sure are useless, aren't ya, Nigel," the snake-necked bird retorted in a voice that sounded like a snarl. This dialogue provided Alvin and the others an opportunity to escape and they immediately took to the air. However, Isabella was struggling to fly, the white parrot's attack on her wing making her struggle to stay airborne. Henrique, upon seeing this, called for a blue-and-gold macaw to come and carry Isabella in his talons and he did so. As soon as Isabella was in the macaw's talons along with Aurora (who was now the only surviving member of Erico's family), Sirius, Belle and Bruno in Alvin and Henrique's, the macaws continued their escape. However, they were attacked by more ravens and they were forced to fight back. During the scuffle, the four chicks were dropped once again and this time, cat and dog paws appeared and seized them. However, the chicks weren't having any of it. Sirius, a surge of rage exploding within him, fought out of a cat's paw and, upon seeing the white parrot which was a cockatoo and the other bird, a swan as they continued to bitterly argue, lashed at the parrot's face and with all his might raked his little claws over the parrot's brow.
"Take THAT for killin' UNCLE ERICO, you FAT QUAIL!" the male glaucous macaw chick snarled to the cockatoo's stun. The swan released a titter.
"Heh, you sure don't know how to handle parrots, former show-bird," the waterbird crooned, "Is it any wonder you're not wanted as a film actor anymore?"
Those words seemed to have had an immediate effect on the cockatoo and it immediately turned and lashed at the swan. Sirius looked on but then a cat paw appeared and seized him. Then he was tossed into a cage with Aurora. Bruno was in another cage and Belle, in a third. Aurora clung onto Sirius as the cat then slammed the door of their cage shut and locked it. The fight between the swan and the cockatoo was then broken up by some human hands and human voices commanded them to snap out of it and keep focussed on the job. The cockatoo and the swan glared daggers with each other as they were pulled apart. Sirius and Aurora looked on as this happened but then they were carried in their cage as they heard one of the humans shout, "Okay, gang, that's enough. Let's get these to the airport."
"What's an airport?" asked Aurora. Sirius gazed at the Spix macaw chick and didn't answer. Neither he nor Aurora knew what an airport was but they were soon to find out. However, as they were loaded into the back of a vehicle called a truck, a massive white parrot appeared before the Spix and glaucous chick, its brown eyes glaring viciously and with rage at the latter.
"For THAT, you little RAT," snarled the white parrot and with that, it unlocked the cage and opened the cage door, "YOU deserve to learn a LESSON about RESPECT!"
Then before either Sirius or Aurora could act, from Sirius' perspective, a clenched talon flew towards him and struck his head. Sirius' world became boiling with dancing stars like what he saw during a clear dark night one night and suddenly, his balance was thrown out of whack and the communication between his brain and body was scrambled. Sirius' world then began to sway, the forms including the maya blue one of Aurora who screamed his name in fright and the white one of the cockatoo's furious and unsympathetic glare, then began to blur together. Then Sirius collapsed forward onto his front and his world went black, Aurora's cries echoing in his ears.
Later, the caged birds including Aurora, the out cold Sirius, Bruno and Belle, were loaded onto several planes of the Skyvan type, those small planes designed to carry loads, and as soon as the job was done, the planes took off from the airport and began to fly to various destinations to sell the captured birds and other animals.
