Rio 1 and a Half

by VPVPVP

Spix macaw Aurora, glaucous macaw Sirius, Lear's macaw Milo and Amazon flying fox Ahsoka must pair up with Zephyr, Samara, Celeste and Orion respectively to breed and save their species. However, things go wrong when a second band of smugglers kidnap them for the pet trade. Aurora and company must escape and deal with the smugglers before it's too late.

9. Backstories and captured

Chapter 9- backstories and captured

The inferno between Sirius and Samara, and Zephyr, Brisa and Aurora continued to rage as Samara continued chasing Sirius and Zephyr and Brisa continued chasing Aurora. Then when at one point Sirius managed to lose Samara, the hot-headed female glaucous macaw dropped from a tree and pounced onto him, sending herself and him careening into the ferns once again. Once they were down, Samara began to throttle Sirius while Aurora continued flying around the room like a mad macaw, desperately trying to evade the still INFURIATED Zephyr and Brisa. While all this happened, Milo and Ahsoka quivered in the artificial grass with their wings wrapped around their bodies under a large artificial fern leaf with Celeste and Orion nearby, looking in horror at the inferno between the other five macaws.

"We'd better do something Orion, before someone gets hurt, especially Samara with that male glaucous macaw," said the female Lear's macaw.

"Just a minute," said Orion before he turned the frightened Milo and Ahsoka in a demanding manner, "Mind giving us a PROPER explanation as to why we're ACTUALLY here!?"

"We're here to pair up with you and have chicks and pups with you," Milo replied timidly, "We're part of four EXTREMELY rare species and our human friends want us to pair up with you to add numbers to them and save them from extinction until more breeding pairs are found."

"Especially for the Amazon flying fox and the glaucous macaw since Sirius and Samara are the last of the latter and me and Orion, the former," added Ahsoka. She flinched when she heard a MASSIVE squawk explode from one of the macaws for she HATED volcanic confrontations like that. Orion and Celeste exchanged looks of disgust as Milo swept on.

"But listen, I will NOT do that with you, Celeste," said the timid male Lear's macaw, "After all, we have only just got acquainted..."

"And I will certainly NOT pair up and have pups with Ahsoka there, there and then either," said Orion, "You can't just pair up with a female you've only known for a few seconds and then start a family with her. My father Augustus told me that I must get to know a potential mate FIRST before taking that relationship further..."

"Honestly, those humans are stupid, aren't they!?" Celeste added in agreement. She then glared at Milo and Ahsoka, "And by the way, you both mentioned that you and the other two are human raised. You both are PETS!?"

"Yes, I belong to a lovely woman who has speech trouble named Audrey," Milo explained timidly, "Just please don't attack me..."

"I'm not going to," said Celeste, "Sounds like you've been at the mercy of some particularly ROTTEN things she may have done to you..."

"Rotten things!?" Milo retorted, "No, Audrey is NOT abusive, she's a loving owner and same with Brandon with Sirius and Aurora, and Joanna with Ahsoka though she is actually a foster bat and not a pet."

"You got something against pets and human-raised bats?" Ahsoka added.

"Humans are horrible, destructive menaces, you two," said Orion with disgust, "They destroy our homes... lure us into traps to use as mere objects in their trading antics... because of them, we lost ABSOLUTELY everything including our clans. And as for any animal that were captured by poachers and thrown into human captivity, a LOT of them have faced unimaginable nightmares at the hands of those bothersome bipeds. You should have heard what HORRIFIC stories the members of our mixed-species tribe brought back when they managed to escape human captivity."

"Um, I think we should sort Zephyr, Brisa and Samara out before they go too far with their rage, Orion," said Celeste. Immediately, Orion broke off the conversation and saw Samara begin to finally lash at Sirius by swiping her claws at him. Her rage had exploded full throttle now and she was attacking him full force.

Sirius tried to deflect the ENRAGED female glaucous macaw's SAVAGE attempts to rake her claws over his plumage but Samara deflected his attempts and began to bash and beat him. She flung Sirius against a tree trunk where he bumped his head and continued attacking him, screeching LOUDLY into his face and frightening him immensely. Zephyr and Brisa, upon seeing Samara spiral out of control with her temper also stopped chasing Aurora and touched down. Aurora, exhausted from the frantic chase from the brother and sister duo, then retreated into an artificial hollow to rest, puffs and pants escaping her beak. Sirius then seized Samara in an attempt to restrain her out of self-defence but Samara, her rage flaring all the more, kicked him in the belly and knocked him down. Then she delivered two brutal claw slashes to him, hitting him in the face on the first and on the left wing on the second. The male glaucous macaw screeched in pain as a set of claw marks were carved open on his wing and right cheek but then Samara seized him by the neck and pinned him against the trunk of another tree and began to strangle him, her talons to his neck with such force that she essentially cut off his breathing altogether. Samara's yellow eyes were volcanic ash plumes as she began to strangle Sirius, the male struggling for breath and his wings grasping her talon and his beak agape. However, still Samara continued to strangle him, the blood-red mist still blinding her to the fact that she was endangering Sirius' life like this. Zephyr, Brisa, Milo, Celeste, Ahsoka, Orion and then Aurora, once she had got her breath back in the hollow, looked on in UTMOST horror as Sirius' movements began to slow as unconsciousness from oxygen deprivation began to set in. Finally, Celeste took action when she saw how this was going to end.

"SAMARA!" she screeched at the top of her voice. The shout of her name was enough to penetrate the red mist blinding Samara's vision and immediately, the female glaucous macaw snapped out of her rage, saw that Sirius was slipping into unconsciousness and immediately released him. Sirius flopped limply onto the sand on his front and began to cough and gasp. Aurora, Milo and Ahsoka rushed over to her while Zephyr, Brisa, Celeste and Orion went over to Samara, the female glaucous macaw UTTERLY mortified at what she had almost done.

"Excellent way to introduce yourself to the ONLY other glaucous macaw in existence, eh, Samara!?" Aurora snarled in anger as Milo and Ahsoka helped the gasping, stunned and shaken Sirius, the claw marks inflicted on him by Samara on his right cheek and left wing weeping a bit of blood, and took him to somewhere to allow him to recover and to treat his wounds. Samara continued to look on, guilt biting her HARD like a crocodile's jaws before she issued an "Excuse me," and darted off somewhere to calm down. She was clearly UTTERLY guilty for going too far with Sirius and she could not believe that she had almost killed him. Orion and Celeste followed her while Zephyr and Brisa exchanged looks and walked after Sirius' group.

Soon, things had calmed down and Sirius' clawed wing and cheek were being seen to. He, Aurora, Milo and Ahsoka were EXTREMELY angry at Samara for almost strangling Sirius to unconsciousness and three of them wanted to seriously lambast Samara for her stupidity in going too far. However, Zephyr, Brisa, Celeste and Orion were doing that for them.

"I cannot BELIEVE you would go as FAR as to STRANGLE that poor male glaucous macaw into near-unconsciousness, Samara," Orion yelled at the guilty female glaucous macaw, "Honestly, you REALLY do have some SERIOUS anger problems that need dealing with."

"I ALWAYS lose control when angered," Samara snapped, "In fact, ANY offender that provokes me to anger faces a SERIOUS and INSTANT beating from me. My mother taught us to be like that when we were young..."

"Your mother was a bad parent in teaching you such things," said Celeste but Samara swept on.

"You remember that green-winged macaw bully who called me a smelly worm head because of my long head feathers?" she growled, "Well, I exploded, savagely beat her up, scored my claws over her face and broke her wing. Back then I believed she got what she deserved and my mother was even proud of me but now," she lowered her head in shame, "I realise what I did was UTTERLY wrong and what my mother taught me was UTTERLY stupid. I doubt her family would EVER forgive me for those actions..."

"You are right in THAT respect," said Zephyr.

"Indeed," put in Brisa, "Your mother was even worse than you but you must NOT follow in her wing flaps like you are doing now."

"Yes," said Celeste, "And while it is true that those silly humans' attempts to get us to pair up with the four newcomers to have chicks and pups TOO early is UTTERLY infuriating, what you did to Sirius was COMPLETELY foolish and over the top."

"Yes," put in Orion, "Violence like THAT is NEVER the answer to anything unless you're defending yourself or your family and friends from a SERIOUS, life-endangering threat such as a predator, and you are right about your mother Tremaine. Her raising of you and your brothers had been UTTERLY wrong. In fact, your clan leader was going to banish you and your family for your violent attitude before that fire started by those destructive loggers tore you from them."

"Is it any wonder so few animals want to befriend you," added Celeste.

"Even Eduardo and Maria, Jewel's parents forbade Jewel and us from associating with you and your family due to their contaminating traits such as an EXPLOSIVE temper," put in Brisa, Zephyr nodding in agreement. Samara only responded with a sigh and entered into a sulk, prompting the brother and sister Spix macaws, the female Lear's macaw and male flying fox to give her some space to calm down, so they left her in peace.

Aurora, Sirius, Milo and Ahsoka were at the artificial stream, cleaning the second one's wounds on his face and wing and applying bandages to them in the form of green leaves. However, it was a painful process for Sirius and he kept wincing. Ahsoka, who was doing the wound tending, flinched as she applied a wet leaf to Sirius' clawed wing.

"I-I-I just cannot BELIEVE that Samara would be SO violent," growled the male glaucous macaw, his face contorted from the pain of his wounds. He released a squawk and flinched as Ahsoka touched the scratches on his wing with the leaf to her annoyance.

"Oh, keep still, Sirius," she grumbled.

"You're as bad as a city dog reluctant to have a bath," said Aurora and she held Sirius' other wing.

"A neighbour of my owner Audrey's back in Sydney, Australia owned a golden retriever and he ABSOLUTELY hated baths," said Milo. Sirius just exhaled in a painful grunt as Ahsoka continued cleaning his scratch of the blood. While Sirius continued being treated, Celeste and Orion came in. Zephyr and Brisa had left to the grate to continue to damage the bars and make a large enough opening in them for a macaw and a flying fox to squeeze through and escape.

"Do any of you wild-born macaws or you Orion, know why Samara was so violent with Sirius?" demanded Aurora.

"And also can you tell us why you hate humans so much?" put in Milo. In response, Celeste launched into an explanation of the backstory of herself, Orion, Samara, Brisa and Zephyr. Across the clearing, Samara listened in.

"We come from the Amazon Rainforest," Celeste began, "Zephyr and Brisa, along with Jewel, come from a tribe of Spix macaws while I, Orion and Samara come from a mixed-species tribe lead largely by Augustus and Melissa, the parents of Orion and leaders of the Amazon flying fox clan."

"There were more Amazon flying foxes in the Amazon Rainforest?" Ahsoka asked but Aurora hushed at her to be quiet. Milo then wrapped the leaf around Sirius' wing like a sling and the pair also sat down to listen. Celeste continued.

"The Amazon flying foxes have formed the mix-species tribe consisting of macaw clans and other animal groups that have mostly lost their homes such as the glaucous macaw clan, Samara's clan. The glaucous macaws have lost their original home to a flock of SAVAGE black birds called Vashta falcons who not only hunt other animals for food but also for the fun of it and to collect their feathers and fur as trophies for their weapons."

"We have had trouble from those black falcons and also from those HIGHLY destructive loggers who do nothing but tear down trees for their own use," Orion continued, "One day, a fire started by loggers tore through the jungle and separated some of us from our tribes. Zephyr, Brisa and their parents Viento were torn from the Spix macaw tribe while I, Celeste and Samara were torn from the mix-species tribe, the latter with her then-friend Archie. Samara and Archie then had another run-in with some of the Vashta falcons but Archie abandoned Samara to save his own skin, forcing Samara into fleeing herself."

"Then Zephyr and Brisa were separated from Viento and Gael by poachers when they settled into another part of the rainforest," continued Celeste, "And they have been on their own from then until now. So have I, Orion and Samara."

"So that is why we LOATHE humans and long to be out of this place and back in the wild," said Orion. He then went on to explain why Samara was so bad-tempered, "But out of the five of us, Samara despises humans the MOST. The glaucous macaws have also suffered trouble with them in their history but the fire incident caused by the loggers had been the final leaf."

"And as to how Samara became so bad tempered, she was born into a family of glaucous macaws who believed that violence was the answer to offenses," said Celeste, "Tremaine and her mate had strong beliefs around this subject and when three of their four eggs hatched (one was infertile), their parents taught them those nasty ways."

"So that glaucous macaw couple wanted to raise their kids to be violent?" asked Sirius angrily.

"Essentially yes," said Orion, "And after Samara had brutally injured a troublesome green-winged macaw who bullied her, giving her a broken wing and a disfigured face, the glaucous macaw clan leader threatened to banish the family but after the fire incident from the loggers resulting in Samara losing her clan and also us, Samara has had anger management problems since. She was trying to deal with them and is trying to do so now."

"Well I HOPE she does or I'm back under the ownership of my and Aurora's friend Brandon whether she likes it or not," he grumbled, flinching from his clawed wing.

"Yes, a bad-tempered macaw has ABSOLUTELY NO place in our lives," put in Aurora, "They're a BAD influence. We would rather be back with our human companion than hang out with HER."

Surprise flowed through Celeste and Orion and also Samara, and Zephyr and Brisa as this pair flew in to bring a report about their progress with the grate.

"Wait a minute; you two are pets as well?" Celeste asked.

"We have lived with Brandon in a city called London in a country across the Atlantic Ocean for the past 12 years," said Aurora.

"Aurora and I share the same owner," added Sirius. Milo and Ahsoka nodded in agreement for they already knew this. The wild-born five reacted in different ways to this revelation but three of them were very negative, especially one of them.

"Wait a minute, you four are MUD-PETS!?" screeched a certain macaw, pulling the others' attention in her direction. Sirius immediately took up a defensive pose as Samara stormed over to the group, her wrathful glare on him, Ahsoka, Milo and Aurora.

"Well, my three macaw friends are but not me," Ahsoka explained but then she realised what Samara had just called her, Milo, Sirius and Aurora and immediately, she was OUTRAGED, "WHAT did you just call us!?"

"Samara, please," said Celeste but Samara ignored her and stopped before the four human-raised macaws and bat, her glare boiling with disgust and scorn piercing them. Zephyr and Brisa also walked in, mocking glares also plastering their faces. Then Samara's beak creased into a condescending smile.

"I guess I did right in dealin' with that stupid male glaucous macaw after all, even though I should not have strangled him to the point of near-death," she crooned. Sirius released a hiss in offended response to this.

"You got something against humans!?" Milo demanded.

"GOT something against HUMANS!?" Samara snapped, her temper flaring once again, "They're VILE DESTROYERS, THAT'S what they ARE! THEY'RE the reasons why we five have lost EVERYTHING!"

"Samara, stay your temper," Orion commanded by Samara ignored him and swept on, "And to hear that YOU FOUR have lived with those DESTROYERS makes you JUST AS LOW AS THEY ARE!"

"Are you meaning to SAY we're inferior because we are HUMAN RAISED!?" Sirius retorted. Milo and Aurora also looked on with offended looks.

"Now COME ON," Ahsoka added, "NOT ALL HUMANS are destroyers. Joanna, for example, has raised me since I was an orphaned pup when I lost my own clan to poachers."

As the ginger bat said this, Zephyr sauntered in, a mocking glare lacing his face.

"Maybe she raised you as a trophy," he crooned, "as did those humans who 'raised' Aurora, Milo and Sirius there."

Brisa behind him snickered in agreement, as did Samara.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, OKAY!?" Ahsoka shouted, really angry now, "Audrey, Brandon and my carer Joanna do NOT see us as trophies or ANYTHING OF THE SORT!"

"That does NOT change the fact that you are LOW-DOWN MUD-PETS," Samara snapped.

"What's a mud-pet?" demanded Milo. Samara shoved her beak into the male Lear's macaw's face.

"To put it bluntly, Lear's boy," she spitefully spat, spittle flying into his face, "Any animal that has lived with humans which makes them lower than SLUGS. My clan came up with that word to describe such tacky creatures."

"Hey, for your information or as a reminder, Samara, many of the animals in the rest of the clans that make up our mixed-species tribe, especially the macaws, used to live with humans before they either managed to escape or were released by their owners into the wild," Orion retorted. However, Samara turned round and stormed off like a bratty macaw, that statement clearly not changing her attitude.

"Human-raised slugs have NO PLACE in my life," she snapped, "I just wanna be back in the wild where I belong."

"Oh YEAH, well let ME tell YA what I think about BAD-TEMPERED MACAWS like YOU!" Sirius yelled, pulling Samara into locking glares with him. However, before the glaucous macaws could square off, Aurora and Orion broke up the confrontation.

"Okay, enough of this," the brown flying fox said, "You have had enough fighting for one day. Let's just focus on getting out of here, okay?"

"And we'll be taking those four with us," said Celeste. Disgust tore through Samara, Zephyr and Brisa.

"We're takin' THOSE four pesky pets with us!?" the Spix macaw brother retorted.

"Just tell us of your progress of the grey thing that is blocking the hole in the wall," Orion commanded. Zephyr immediately turned and flew off with Brisa close behind. Orion nodded to the macaws to loft into flight. Celeste, a VERY sour-faced Samara and a reluctant Milo, Aurora and Sirius did so but Sirius was forced to walk due to the claw mark on his left wing making it too painful for him to fly. Orion and Ahsoka then followed the macaws on the ground.

Meanwhile

Outside the chamber, the rest of the activities of Tulio's Aviary continued with the other employees continuing their tasks in caring for the birds, releasing any that were fully healed back into the wild and writing reports. The minor divisions seeing to other animal types also continued their schedule and two marmosets that had been brought in injured were released back into the jungle by two members of the division dealing with primates. Then when the day's end came within sight, the employees finished their tasks and prepared to leave. Those in charge of patrol jobs, however, got prepared for their duties and switched on the installed security systems like motion detection lasers once everyone else was out of the building though few employees who worked night shifts stayed behind to watch over the animal casualties during the night.

Then near to sundown, the patrol group lead by Sylvio got fully prepared to take up their guard duty jobs. The motion detection lasers were switched on, the red beams slashing through the air in a straight line from their generators to a receiver on the other end of the room. Since the kidnap of Blu and Jewel several years ago involving a sneaky cockatoo and Fernando, who is now Tulio and Linda's adopted son, these had been installed. However, a sneaky group was not going to enter the Aviary via that route. Sylvia and his group continued preparing for their upcoming nighttime patrol jobs and as soon as they were ready, they set out to their posts with some of them staying inside to guard the rooms of the building.

Sylvio and two other security guard members patrolled the outside and periphery of the Aviary's grounds, their eyes scanning the darkening environment for any signs of trouble like night watchmen. To their initial gladness, there was no sign of suspicious movement anywhere either on the road leading to the Aviary through two rows of trees, or elsewhere around the building. However, before Sylvio and the other two guards could move on, sudden movement occurred out the corner of the eye of the lead guard., immediately, Sylvio turned in the direction of the movement and when he saw something, he alerted his two colleagues and pointed to what he had spotted. Then he spoke to the rest of the guards via walkie-talkie before following his two colleagues to whatever they had spotted to investigate.

Meanwhile

Back in the chamber, Zephyr continued working on the hole in the grate blocking off the entrance to the ventilation system. The bars forming the grate were distorted but to Zephyr's dismay, the hole was not quite big enough for a macaw his size or a flying fox the size of Orion to fit through. Orion and Brisa came in.

"How are you doing with that hole, Zephyr?" asked the former.

"I cannot get it big enough for any of us," Zephyr replied disgruntled, his glare on the hole, "I don't know how we are gonna get out of this place. Maybe if I can make this bigger, we should be able to fit through it..."

Orion and Brisa breathed disappointed sighs and returned to the rest of the group in the middle of the clearing in the artificial habitat. Zephyr, deciding to have a break followed. Then eight of the nine macaws and flying foxes sat in a ring. Samara, the ninth, sat a short distance away, a sour look on her face as she glared at the three human-raised macaws, Aurora, Sirius and Milo and the human-raised flying fox Ahsoka. She clearly despised these four and their ties with humans and wished she had never met them. After all, humans were her MOST detested species on the planet and ANY animal that had ANY ties with them, even negative ones and despite it not being the animals' fault that they ended up with them in the first place, she saw as low-down slugs. Then she turned away as Celeste began to ask the four human-raised macaws and bat about their backstory.

"So, where exactly did you grow up?" asked the female Lear's macaw, Orion coming to sit next to her while Zephyr and Brisa sat nearby, sour looks on their faces as well. Like Samara, they didn't think highly of human-raised animals but their attitude wasn't as caustic as Samara's.

"Did you grow up here together?" Celeste added, "Or somewhere else in the world?"

"The latter but we did not grow up in the same place," replied Aurora, "Sirius and I grew up in a human city called London in a place called the United Kingdom."

"That's across the Atlantic Ocean," interjected Sirius.

"While I grew up in a country called Australia," replied Milo, "But initially I was in Perth but I flew to Sydney when my owner Audrey moved."

"As for me, I grew up right here in Rio itself," said Ahsoka.

"That's quite interesting," said Orion.

"By the way, Milo, what did you mean when you flew to Sydney when your owner Audrey moved?" asked Celeste.

"I bet she abandoned you," said Zephyr before Milo could speak much to his UTMOST anger.

"ZEPHYR!" Celeste and Orion snapped at the male Spix macaw angrily at his interruption, making him flinch and fold his wings like a bratty chick. Brisa looked on but said nothing.

"Sorry, carry on," said Orion.

"Well, my backstory's a lot more complicated than Aurora, Sirius and Ahsoka's," Milo continued, "I was initially in Perth which is a city on the western coast of the Australian continent and I was the pet of Audrey who, back then was a girl. I was still a chick unable to fly and she had speech trouble and learning disabilities. I helped her to talk better for a few years but it was cut short by Audrey's spiteful older sister Ana who despised her and despised me. I don't know if it was just general sibling jealousy, or it is because Audrey had special needs and required more attention from her parents in order to learn and grow, making her feel left out, or both, but either way, Ana HATED Audrey and me. The final leaf came when she put me through an incident and unintentionally endangered Audrey's life but then she fabricated a story that resulted in me being torn from Audrey by her father who believed her."

"That's HORRIBLE," said Ahsoka in disgust.

"Some humans can be UTTERLY horrible," said Aurora.

"And cruel," put in Sirius, "I'm just hoping that Audrey's parents will have found out and severely disciplined her sister for doing that to Audrey and Milo because THAT is just NOT acceptable."

"Absolutely not," said Orion. Zephyr and Brisa just released brief mocking laughs and continued to listen. Nearby, Samara flashed a sour look and looked away again. Sirius shot her a glare and gazed back into the ring.

"So what happened next, Milo?" asked Celeste. Milo continued.

"Shortly after I was taken away from Audrey, I went from one owner to the next until I finally ended up at another pet store where a nice elderly couple named Gregory and... Ellie I think the wife's name was, and I lived with them until the wife passed on. During that time, I found out that Audrey and her family had relocated to Sydney and after leaving Greg's side following the death of his wife, I finally learned to fly and flew all the way to Sydney, a city on the other side of the continent of Australia and almost exactly opposite to Perth. Then after a few adventures there, I finally reunited with Audrey and became her assistant waiter in a human eating area called a restaurant."

"Wow, that certainly was an amazing set of adventures you've had, Milo," said Celeste in amazement.

"Indeed," said Orion in agreement, "Though I have never heard of Australia or its places."

"To hear that he had achieved such a flight from Perth to Sydney was indeed amazing," said Aurora.

"That's gotta be at least 2000 miles," said Ahsoka.

"A very long way indeed," put in Sirius. Zephyr, Brisa and Samara, however, were disinterested and the third one just flashed a glare at the four human-raised birds and bat and looked away again. However, this behaviour had not gone unnoticed.

"I can see you shoot us that bratty glare over there, Samara," Sirius spoke. Samara, however, didn't reply. Sirius rolled his eyes and gazed back at Orion and Celeste to finish the story.

"And then came the most recent event: some animal experts came to our places and told us that we are rare species of macaws and bat. Aurora, I and Milo thought we were some type of hyacinth macaws but they pointed out that we are in fact a Spix, a glaucous and a Lear's macaw."

"And we were brought all the way from the UK and Australia to here," said Aurora.

"I didn't have far to go," said Ahsoka, "Since I grew up here in Rio and was ALREADY here."

"I bet you're glad to have come here to meet some potential new friends," said Celeste with a smile, "I'm more than happy to be your friend and so is Orion here."

Orion smiled and nodded in agreement, "Despite your human-raised backgrounds," but then his face morphed into a stern glare, "One one condition though: JUST friendship ONLY. The pairing-up-and-having-a-family bit will come later but NOT now."

Ahsoka, Aurora, Sirius and Milo nodded in agreement. They, too, thought it was a bit silly for their human friends to try and pair them up with Orion, Zephyr, Samara and Celeste right on the spot as a bond will need to be formed and developed first. But there were a few things to sort out first. Zephyr and Brisa glared at the four when the scornful voice of the female glaucous macaw spoke.

"What wild macaw or flying fox would want YOU four mud-pets as FRIENDS!?" Samara snarled, approaching the group. Her voice was normally silk-like, stunning and beautiful like her appearance, but she spoke like a spoilt, condescending brat for her attitude was bratty. This acted like a pile of city animal dung in a flower patch. When Celeste and Orion saw Samara saunter towards the four human-raised macaws and bat, they went to rebuke her but Samara ignored them and swept on, her glare on Sirius, Aurora, Ahsoka and Milo, their glares back at her, especially Sirius.

"As I've said, you four," Samara continued, "Mud-pets are the SCUM of the jungle and nothing but SLUGS just like their lousy biped destroyer friends... SLUGS that don't deserve ANY friends WHATSOEVER! And CERTAINLY not friends born and that grew up in the REAL environment."

"Well, in that case," Sirius retorted, "NO-ONE will wanna be YOUR friend if you're gonna have THAT attitude towards human-raised animals such as US FOUR."

"I don't think even any wild-born and raised animals would want a macaw like HER for a friend either," put in Ahsoka, her hand-wings folded.

"I've got Zephyr and Brisa," Samara protested with a gesture to the brother and sister Spix duo but Sirius stormed over to her.

"THEY are as ANNOYIN' as YOU," he snapped with a feather point at Samara's chest, "Jungle BRAT!"

Suddenly, a blue and grey blur shot in, tackled into Sirius and pinned him onto his back on the floor with a talon to the neck. Samara held him there but not as tightly as she did before.

"Don't ya DARE..." she growled into Sirius' face, "Call me a jungle brat, mud-pet."

"Sorry," Sirius sarcastically retorted before forcing himself up, tackling into Samara and pinning HER on her back with a talon to the neck.

"Jungle BRAT," he spat directly into her face.

"If those two glaucous macaws kiss, I'm gonna vomit," Zephyr spoke. Immediately, Sirius released Samara and allowed her to get up. Then the two began to glare at each other like a city cat and dog in a confrontation.

"Don't ya make me add another SET of claw marks to your UGLY face, mud-pet," Samara growled in a dangerously low voice and to enforce her threat, she rose a talon and flared its claws like a cat threatening to deliver a scratch. Sirius released a hiss but then Samara turned her caustic glare to the other three human-raised animals and began to walk threateningly to them. Immediately, Milo, Ahsoka and Aurora took up defensive positions while Orion and Celeste got prepared to intervene.

"In fact, each of YOU mud-pets deserve a claw mark over the face," Samara snarled, "At least my mother Tremaine was RIGHT about ONE THING!"

"Samara," Orion warned, "stop your THREATS right NOW!"

However, Samara ignored the male flying fox, jumped up, flared her claws with a hateful squawk and prepared to bring them down on the faces of one of them to carve them a set of claw marks, aiming for Aurora. Aurora immediately ducked and covered her face protectively while Milo and Ahsoka darted to either side to avoid the vicious glaucous macaw but then Sirius, finally snapping at Samara's unreasonable hostility, took action.

Samara, seeing that Aurora was protecting her face with her wings, immediately aborted her claw mark attempt at the last second, knocked Aurora down to expose her face, flared her claws and aimed for her brow but then an azure and grey blur shot in and tackled HARD into her to knock her away from Aurora. Samara tumbled in the sand and came at a stop near a fern on her back, then she scrambled to her feet as Sirius, his eyes flashing blue fire, then touched down (he was struggling to fly a little because of his clawed left wing thanks to Samara), walked over, raised a wing and gave her a stunning smack across the face.

"Don't ya DARE even THINK of attackin' Aurora, Ahsoka or Milo, you bat-tempered MINX!" he snarled like an angry dog. Samara shot Sirius a caustic glare and smacked him back with a harder blow.

"Don't ya make me pounce onto ya and TEAR YA FEATHERS OUT, MUD-PET!" she screamed.

"Well, GO AHEAD THEN, VINE-HEAD!" Sirius retorted in a scream of his own and with that, he crouched and got prepared to fight Samara. Samara also crouched and released a hiss as Sirius continued, "I wouldn't mind inflictin' YPOU with claw marks as well, ESPECIALLY IF YOUR GONNA THREATEN AURORA, AHSOKA AND MILO!"

Samara then released a cry but before she could launch herself at Sirius, a navy blue, lighter blue, cerulean and brown forms rushed in and seized her while a maya blue, ginger and red and another navy blue form rushed in and apprehended Sirius. Then the two hostile glaucous macaws were pulled apart. Samara writhed in the clutches of Orion, Celeste and also Zephyr and Brisa for the latter two had seen enough of the glaucous macaw's bad temper. Though they didn't like Aurora, Sirius, Ahsoka and Milo because of their human-raised background, they didn't want them to get hurt any further. Sirius also writhed in Aurora, Milo and Ahsoka's grasp, his caustic blue glare on Samara whose glare was mutual.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU," Orion yelled loudly to snap the two glaucous macaws out of their rage and enmity for one another, "We shall have NO fighting WHATSOEVER in this group!"

"Yes, it will NOT achieve ANYTHING," added Celeste.

"Once we are outside this wretched humans' place..." Samara snarled but Celeste swept on.

"Ain't gonna happen, Samara," she added, "Those four are coming with us and that's that."

"Yes, just because they are human raised does NOT make them any inferior to US," added Orion, "There's nothing we can do about those four's past. After all, it's NOT their fault they ended up living with humans, especially if they are caught by poachers... unless they were really stupid and deliberately allowed themselves to be caught just to be taken into human hands..."

"Yes, think of those members of our mixed-species tribe who were caught by poachers, taken into human captivity but had managed to escape or were released and they rejoined and reunited with us," added Celeste. Samara glared at Sirius, Aurora, Ahsoka and Milo as the four glared back at her.

"Maybe those four DID choose to allow themselves to be caught so that they could be mud-pets," she retorted, her fires lowing but still blazing. That struck a nerve and made the four human-raised animals flinch, especially Ahsoka who was taken in as a foster bat. Then Orion glared at Samara with a severe look.

"You... listen to me... NOW," the male flying fox said in a voice, its tone deadly, "We shall have no more of that bratty attitude towards Ahsoka and those three human-raised macaws and CERTAINLY no more threats of clawing them, calling them mud-pets OR any other derogatory or insensitive remarks about them. Any more of THAT and you're OUT of our group and you will be ON YOUR OWN. GOT THAT!?" he pointed a wing thumb into Samara's chest as he said this. Samara winced, clearing hating the idea of being all by herself but Orion REALLY meant it in this ultimatum and all scornful, hostile flames the female glaucous macaw had against Sirius, Ahsoka, Aurora and Milo was immediately dispelled. Timidly, she nodded. Orion, sure that Samara was going to agree to this SEVERE warning, released her as Celeste then came in.

"Those four will be coming with US and escaping this silly place whether YOU like it or NOT," the Lear's macaw said harshly. Samara then folded her wings sourly and reluctantly accepted this fact. Then once everything was calmed down, Orion and Celeste released Samara. She exchanged a sour look with Sirius and looked away, Sirius doing the same.

However, shortly after dealing with Samara's FOUL attitude towards the three pet macaws and Ahsoka, a startling sound struck the air; alerting the nine including Samara and they began to look around. Samara, all stupid bratty attitude dispelled, said to the other eight, "Did you hear that?"

"That sounded like something metallic being bust open," said Milo.

"I'll check that grey thing," said Zephyr and with that, he went there, Brisa following him. The other seven continued looking around the now-dark chamber. The night sky was visible through the skylight in the ceiling above.

"I hope it's nothing suspicious," said Aurora.

"I hope not either," said Sirius. Samara then unintentionally came near him but neither she nor Sirius shot each other a caustic glare for their attention was on the surroundings from that sound. For the first time, the pair did not act hostilely to each other. Zephyr and Brisa went over to the vent entrance and when they moved aside the leaves covering it, they saw that the grate which they, Orion, Samara and Celeste had been trying to make a hole in had been broken from the wall and was lying on the floor like a carcass, leaving a gaping rectangular hole in the wall. Joy washed over the brother and sister duo

"Brisa, you get out of here while I alert the others," Zephyr said. Brisa did so while her brother left to get Orion and the others but as she entered the vent, something happened.

Zephyr called for Orion, Celeste, Samara, Sirius, Milo, Aurora and Ahsoka and shouted, "Guys, the grey thing's been broken from the wall and the hole behind it is open. We can finally escape to freedom!"

Samara opened her beak to reply joyfully when suddenly, a squawk exploded, making the eight flinch and even more alert. Zephyr whipped his gaze back in the direction of the vent opening.

"Sis?" he called and flew over to investigate. Samara looked on worriedly.

"That doesn't sound good," she whispered to the others. Orion was about to speak when suddenly, Zephyr's cries exploded as well.

"Zephyr as well!?" Aurora blurted out. Sirius went to investigate the vent opening but Celeste came in and stopped him.

"No, we'll investigate this," said she, "You stay here."

Then she and Orion left to check on Zephyr. Samara glared at the four human-raised macaws and bat. Though she still despised them, concern masked the ugly dislike.

"You see why we wanna get outa this rotten place?" she spoke, barely restraining herself from calling them mud-pets or Sirius would no doubt give her a piece of his mind if she EVER said it to them again. Furthermore, Orion's ultimatum rung in her head and acted as a restraint as well. Ahsoka opened her mouth to reply when two cries exploded from the same spot that Zephyr had gone. Concern welled within the other five including Samara... GREAT concern this time. This was NOT normal.

"Orion, Celeste?" asked Milo and went over to the vent opening area to investigate.

"Milo," cried Sirius and he followed, along with Samara, the concern for Orion, Celeste, Zephyr and Brisa especially boiling within her. Aurora and Ahsoka remained.

"Oh, I don't like this, Aurora," the female Amazon flying fox moaned nervously, "I wish I was back with Joanna..."

"Now look, Ahsoka," began Aurora but then four more cries, two of them being Milo and Sirius' exploded from nearby.

"Oh, not them as well," Ahsoka cried and then her nerve snapped like a twig and she bolted like a startled cat, leaving Aurora to pursue her.

"Ahsoka, come back!" the pigtailed Spix macaw called and with that, she lofted into flight as the still-flightless flying fox continued running for the exit. However, as Aurora flew along, a blur shot in and plucked her out of the air like a fly but this blur was neither blue nor brown. Aurora's brief cry stopped Ahsoka in her tracks and she shot a terrified gaze into the air above the artificial jungle.

"Aurora?" the female flying fox cried, "AURORA!?"

As she looked around at the ceiling for a flash of maya blue, several forms fluttered down and surrounded her. They were flying forms but they weren't blue. Neither were they brown and black like Orion but these forms weren't macaws or flying foxes either. Ahsoka gazed at the shadowy bird forms and immediately, she became rooted to the spot.

"Um... hello..." she began but then one of the forms lunged at her and within a second, Ahsoka was plunged into total darkness. A cry exploded from her as she was smothered with some sort of cover.

Back outside, the other guards came over to Sylvio and the first two guards but when they saw their state, they immediately froze in stun and confusion. The three men were covered from head to toe with claw marks and their clothes and hair looked as though they had been dragged through a thorn bush. Additionally, Sylvio was limping, his lower right leg's shin bearing a bite mark but this bite mark were not a set of puncture wounds. Then one of the other guards spoke.

"Good grief, Pablo, Sylvio and Pedro, what HAPPENED!?" he demanded. The three men were too stunned to speak but then a horrible feeling welled within Sylvio despite the stun and pain from the attack of whatever (or rather, WHOEVER) they had seen.

"Tell Tanya to shut off the motion lasers in the main medical room," he commanded. The guard obediently left to relay the message. After this was done, the guard group rushed for the artificial chamber where Aurora and the other eight were kept, Sylvio limping due to his bitten leg. The moment they entered the chamber via a hidden door, they immediately began searching for the seven precious blue macaws and two equally precious flying foxes. They checked under every fern, in every hollow and every other nook and cranny of the room. They continued searching and searching, their nerves boiling all the more but to their UTMOST dismay, there was no sign of ANY of the seven precious birds or two bats in this room... ANYWHERE. The guards were in peril. They were SUPPOSED to have been watching over these nine critically endangered animals. What were Tulio and Luca, the head of the chiroptology division of the Aviary, going to say when he hears this? While the guards continued to ponder over the disappearance of the nine animals and dread Tulio and Luca's reaction, one of the female guards went over to the entrance to the vent in one of the walls the exact same vent Zephyr and the others had been trying to escape through but when she saw what happened to the grate covering it, she called the others over. The other guards gathered round and she picked up the grate and looked into the vent. She also discovered some feathers scattered at the foot of the wall but these weren't blue.

"The macaws and the flying foxes that are supposed to be in here," she told the others, "They're gone and it seems that we've had something else in here as well," she raised several feathers, coloured black, for the guards to see. The guards including Sylvio looked on in dismay.

This was NOT good.