Chapter 16- attack of the toucan kids!
Meanwhile, Orion and Ahsoka continued their search for help.
"If we're lucky, we might encounter Blu and his family," the female ginger bat said, "They live here and since Blu is knowledgeable in human stuff sort of like me but in different areas, I hope he can find a way to do something about our chains."
"At least there's a good side to being human-raised I guess," said Orion, "If only Samara would take off the rotten fruit shell she's got around her vision and see clearly that human-raised animals are not all that bad, though I still don't trust humans due to their destructive tendencies."
"You mentioned that back in your tribe, you had multiple members that had human ties, didn't you?" asked Ahsoka.
"We did," said Orion, "Mostly either escaped from smugglers or former pets released by humans into the wild. Even some of the glaucous macaws of Samara's clan respected those unfortunate animals. It's just certain glaucous macaws like Samara's mother Tremaine and their attitude towards them that were the problem."
"I can see she's probably starting to reconsider leaving us," said Ahsoka, "I just hope she doesn't go down that road. After all, those smugglers are UTTERLY after her and Sirius and they will be using their bird assistants including Vecna the swan as air searchers, and Vecna is very powerful."
"That swan is also armed with a powerful bite despite the fact that he actually doesn't have teeth," said Orion, before his look turned dark, "And believe me, when he clamped those mandibles onto my neck; it was though I had a snake around my neck. You do NOT want to be on the receiving end of his abuse like how I was with Zephyr, Brisa and Celeste. Considering the fact that parrots are his most detested type of animal, those two Spix macaws and that Lear's macaw should consider themselves lucky that he didn't go for THEIR throats."
Ahsoka shuddered before resuming the search. However, the two bats needn't get very far for the two macaws Ahsoka had at the top of her search list were close by with a friend of theirs.
As the two bats continued on, a faint sound seized their attention and Orion stopped Ahsoka from walking further.
"What is it?" asked the ginger bat but the brown one raised a black membranous hand-wing to signal her to be quiet. Ahsoka did so and began to listen. Soon enough, the sound occurred again and as the flying foxes listened closer, they realised that the sounds were talking. And that talking was increasing in volume as its source got closer to the bats' location. Recognition ignited within Ahsoka.
"Is that who I think it is?" asked she, her ear cocked. Orion also cocked his ear to listen more intently. The two bats continued listening for a while until finally; the source was close enough for decipherable words to be heard.
"'What is love if it's not with you? I know when you're alone, you feel it too...' c'mon, Blu, sing the next verse."
"'In... your wings... is where I long to be... 'cause... 'cause... urm what was the next lyric again, Rafael?"
"It's 'Cause being with you gives me sanity', Blu. Honestly, for a nerd bird, you are forgetful of lyrics, aren't ya?"
Then laughter sounded from the three talkers in the distance as they came Orion and Ahsoka's way. The third voice was unrecognisable to Ahsoka for she had not yet met the third one. However, she identified 'Rafael' as she remembered Blu telling her about a toco toucan friend of his and his massive family of toucan chicks when he told her about his and Jewel's adventures through Rio when they met that time. But she recognised the first two's voices. Immediately, she felt a surge of excitement explode within her.
"It's BLU AND JEWEL," she cried, "AND THEY'RE NEARBY!"
And immediately, she took off, forgetting she was chained to Orion.
"Ahsoka, calm... DOWN!" Orion cried as the chain reached its maximum length and pulled on his right leg. Then the poor make brown bat was dragged along by the excited female ginger one as she ran ahead. Orion then began to run in unison with Ahsoka to prevent stumbling with the chain again.
"Urgh, I cannot WAIT for that ugly thing to come off our feet," he snarled in a flash of anger at the silvery snake linking him to Ahsoka. The two bats continued until they finally reached a large rock. As soon as they passed that rock and traced the sounds of the talking to their sources, the three finally came into view.
Two of the talkers were blue macaws while the third one was a toucan. One of the blue macaws was male and he had lush blue feathers like Zephyr and a stocky build but unlike Zephyr whose head and neck were blue-white, this blue macaw's head was almost entirely blue. He had three small feathers behind his head and a ruffle of feathers flaring up from behind his neck. His beak was large and grey and he had brown eyes, each of the eyes surrounded by a pale blue patch bordered by a darker blue band. The other blue macaw was a female and was slimmer than the male. She had a pure white face mask around her eyes, coloured cyan, and beak and a fan of feathers behind her head. She had light blue feathers like Aurora and Brisa and her beak was smaller than the male's and was coloured almost black. The toucan was black with a white front, had brown eyes, a cluster of feathers behind its head and a large orange beak with a black tip. This toucan was of the toco species and appeared to be male. The three continued talking amongst themselves, unaware that two massive winged mammals with faces resembling a canine were right in their path.
As Orion took in the appearance of the female Spix macaw, his mouth opened and his eyes widened. He could not believe that this was the same macaw he met once as a pup and when she was a chick back in the Amazon.
"So THAT'S Jewel!?" he blurted out, "Boy how as she grown. Zephyr, Brisa, Samara and Celeste are gonna be UTTERLY shocked and also jubilant when they see this."
"That other macaw, the male blue one is Blu," said Ahsoka with a point to the male macaw as he talked with the toucan, "He's Jewel's mate. I don't know who the toucan is but I presume he must be one of their friends."
"So apparently those two have had a clutch of three chicks," said Orion before he looked around for any smaller blue macaws, "But I don't see any."
"I'm not lying," Ahsoka replied, before she also found that the two macaws, Blu and Jewel, were on their own, "But having said that, why are they not with their parents?"
Orion looked on in wonder.
While the two flying foxes continued to gaze at the trio, the two Spix macaws and the toco toucan, Rafael continued talking.
"'What Is Love' will be our New Year's Eve song hopefully," said Rafael, "It's not been decided yet as it's too early but I hope it makes the grade."
"You've been rehearsing that song with your keel-billed mate Eva, haven't you?" asked Blu. Rafael nodded proudly. Then a scowl came upon Jewel's face and she gave Blu a stink eye.
"Speaking of Rafael's family, I still don't like the idea of us leaving our three chicks Carla, Bia and Tiago with his and Eva's children, Blu," she spoke disapprovingly, "Haven't you forgotten how mischievous and troublesome that lot can be? Remember when we first encountered them."
"Oh, they'll be fine, Jewel," said Rafael, "Eva's an EXCELLENT mother and babysitter."
Jewel gazed unsurely at the toco toucan and did not reply but the look on her face said it all. She did NOT agree with this one bit. Blu, however, looked assured. Then as the trio were finally close to the pair of flying foxes such that they were within a few metres from them, Ahsoka seized the opportunity to get their attention.
"Um... hi, Blu and Jewel," the ginger bat called. Blu, Jewel and Rafael turned to look the flying foxes' way but the moment they spotted two enormous bats with dog like faces standing in front of them, they almost launched into the air from startle. Orion and Ahsoka also winced and soon, the five stood gazing at each other as they began to examine each other. After a minute's silence, Blu was the first to speak.
"Ahsoka?" he said, "Is that you?"
"Ahsoka?" asked Rafael with confusion.
"She was that Amazon flying fox who lived with Joanna," said Jewel, "We've met her once before. It was just before we had Carla, Bia and Tiago."
Then as soon as the two Spix macaws and the flying fox recognised each other, Blu and Jewel rushed over to Ahsoka and pulled her into a group hug.
"Long time no see, amiga," cried Blu as he broke the hug with the ginger bat.
"How have you been doing, lately?" asked Jewel. Then Rafael stepped in before Ahsoka could speak.
"Oh, Rafael, this is Ahsoka," said Blu, "You remember the ginger flying fox we told you about after we met her? Well, here she is."
"Ahsoka, this is Rafael," said Jewel. Ahsoka and Rafael immediately shook wings in greeting.
"Nice to meet you, amiga," said the toco toucan.
"Blu and Jewel here told me about you but I've never actually met you face to face," said Ahsoka with a smile. She then turned to Orion and introduced him to the three, "Oh, by the way, this is Orion. He's another Amazon flying fox."
Jewel then gazed at Orion and the brown bat returned it.
"You look a little familiar," said the Spix macaw.
"As did you when we saw you at a distance," said Orion, "I... was only... a pup back then... and you were only..."
"A chick," Jewel said, finishing Orion's sentence. And following this, the brown flying fox and the Spix macaw shared a hug, jubilant that they had not seen each other for so long. After they had broken the hug, Blu looked on in slight confusion.
"You know this bat, Jewel?" asked he.
"We have only met each other once back in the jungle when we were kids," said Jewel, "And it seems that he, too, was separated from his flying fox clan by some event..."
"That event was the fire," said Orion, "Zephyr, Brisa, Samara and Celeste have also survived and are here with us."
"Zephyr, Brisa and Celeste?" asked Jewel with hope, "They're alive as well?" her face then turned to a scowl, "And please, don't get me started on Samara. She's not at all a nice glaucous macaw. In fact she's the daughter of that wicked glaucous macaw named Tremaine. My parents Eduardo and Maria have forbidden me from associating with her and her family due to their bad influence. I wouldn't be surprised if almost every other animal shuns her because of her rotten attitude..."
"We've been trying to sort out her attitude," said Ahsoka.
"Oh, so you're all together?" asked Rafael.
"Yes, they're back in the clearing," said Orion.
"Along with a Spix macaw called Aurora, a glaucous macaw called Sirius and a Lear's macaw called Milo," said Ahsoka. Surprise ignited within the Spix macaws and Rafael.
"There's another Spix and glaucous macaw alive?" asked Blu.
"I thought Blu and his family were the last Spix macaws alive," said Rafael.
"Not to mention another glaucous macaw," said Jewel, "That macaw species is EXTREMELY rare like your species, the Amazon flying fox. In fact Samara's clan is only around half the size of my tribe and your clan, Orion, just as small. Boy, Samara will be surprised..."
"She really wasn't," said Ahsoka, "In fact she dislikes Sirius because he is a pet."
"We'll have you meet them when we get back to the macaws," said Orion. Blu, Jewel and Rafael smiled, indicating that they would love to though Jewel was more distasteful about Samara but she was glad that she was alive. As much as she disliked Samara, Jewel wouldn't wish death on her due to her species' rarity. With that, the five began to return to Aurora's group.
As they walked along, Blu, Jewel and Rafael noticed something joining the flying foxes together.
"What's that glinting thing between you?" asked the middle one. Immediately Ahsoka took hold of the chain and showed it to the couple and Rafael. The moment the three saw the chain, they winced violently and Blu and Jewel actually shuddered. Seeing that chain had ignited memories within them when they were chained together like that.
"This is the reason why we need our help," explained Ahsoka as Blu came up to examine the chain, "But we're not the only ones chained together like this."
"Samara is chained to Sirius," added Orion, "Celeste to Milo and Zephyr to Aurora. Brisa is chained to the latter two, forming a three."
"You're kiddin' us, amigo," growled Rafael but Orion shook his head to confirm that he wasn't.
"Who did this to you?" asked Blu as he put the chain back down.
"A band of smugglers," Ahsoka replied. That made the three flinch in disbelief again.
"B-but the smugglers are in jail," Jewel said.
"True but this is a SECOND band of smugglers," Ahsoka explained, "They must have been working with the first band, the one that had that cockatoo but it seems that they have managed to establish their own hideout."
"They are assisted by a pack of city dogs and city cats," Orion added, "and a flock of ravens and crows led by a VERY vicious and massive swan named Vecna."
"Vecna?" Blu repeated, before drifting off into slight thought as he pondered over the name, "Vecna, Vecna... that name sounds familiar."
"Oh, you wouldn't wanna meet him, you two," Ahsoka continued seriously, "Certainly not with your chicks. Vecna is a VERY powerful and violent swan with a VOLCANIC temper and incredibly sadistic and psychotic tendencies. Orion here got a dose of that bird's sadism when he flattened him into the floor with Zephyr, Brisa and Celeste and bit his neck."
"But the primary type of animal he despises most are parrots," said Orion, "He told us through an awful song that he once had a family... a mate and cygnets, al of who were equally as bad as him... and ruled a lake with an iron wing. But a flock of macaws drove the family from the pond and killed his mate and cygnets, leading to Vecna's rancour for all parrots."
"Including Nigel, surprisingly," added Ahsoka. Blu, Jewel and Rafael just gazed back at the flying foxes in disbelief until the Spix macaws' faces morphed into scowls at Ahsoka's mentioning of Nigel. These two macaws absolutely ABHORRED Nigel above everything else and had hoped that he had somehow died in the plane crash. Ahsoka continued.
"And I feel I must warn you, Blu and Jewel, you and your chicks are high on those poachers' catch list," she said.
"How are they gonna hunt us down?" asked Blu.
"By sending their birds including Vecna out to look for you," said Orion, "In fact they may be preparing to fly out into the city and the jungle even as we speak."
As the brown bat said this, Jewel began to tremble with rage. It was the classical aggressive momma macaw's protective behaviour for she ABSOLUTELY cannot stand the THOUGHT of her chicks getting handled by smugglers.
"Well, if those poachers and their pathetic pets are after us, I will NOT hesitate to use my beak and talons FULL FORCE if they DARE threaten our chicks," she snarled.
"Neither will I," added Blu.
"That does sound very serious," said Rafael, before his gaze turned to the chain linking the bats together, "But first, we gotta get that horrible thing off of you, as well as the chains holding your macaw friends together. Can you take us to them?"
"Certainly," Ahsoka replied, "That's why we came out here."
And with that, the flying foxes turned and led Blu, Jewel and Rafael to the rest of the group still waiting.
Meanwhile
The blue macaws continued waiting. Milo was pacing back and forth but limited by the chain linking him to Celeste, while Celeste sat on a rock. Sirius was just sitting nearby while Samara sat miserably nearby. She was clearly VERY miserable and was replaying how she had treated the others, especially Sirius in her mind but she hid her misery from the others. She also imagined herself being completely alone and facing the poachers' ravens, crows and Vecna. She especially winced at the thought of meeting that massive, powerful swan again. After seeing him flatten Orion, Zephyr, Brisa and Celeste into the ground with his massive body, Samara had become scared of the swan and did NOT want to face him alone. Zephyr, Aurora and Brisa also sat together, the latter fiddling with her chain bitterly and glaring how it was connected to Zephyr and Aurora's chain.
"What's taking Orion and Ahsoka so long?" asked Zephyr.
"Finding help in this endless maze isn't gonna be easy for them, I can tell you," said Milo, "Especially with Ahsoka not being able to fly."
The others except Samara nodded in agreement. Samara only flashed a brief sour and miserable glance at the others and bowed her head back down. Suddenly, a snap from a twig sounded somewhere from the forest, alerting all seven macaws including Samara. Immediately, they all rose to their feet.
"Did you guys hear that?" asked Sirius.
"I certainly did, mate," Milo replied. With that, he began to shoot wary gazes at the surroundings, the other six doing the same.
"I hope it's not what or who I think it is," Aurora spoke nervously and with dread.
"It better not be," Zephyr replied, "Oh, I hope Orion and that flightless pet bat Ahsoka hurry UP with their search for help..."
"Ahsoka is NOT a pet," Aurora snapped but Zephyr didn't care and began to examine the surroundings. Rolling her eyes, Aurora immediately took up a defensive posture. The seven macaws then began to pace around, being mindful of their chains as another snap of another twig sounded, pulling their gazes in the direction of that sound. Then some leaves were shuddered, yanking the attention of all seven macaws their way but when they looked at the leaves, they saw nothing. Nervously and with tension rising, the seven continued examining their surrounds. However, they had good reason to be alert as something was hiding among the foliage watching them. Sirius then unintentionally spread his wings across Samara to protect her as he continued to examine the surroundings.
"We'd better get prepared to launch into flight," he told the others before gazing at the healing claw marks on his wing inflicted on him by Samara. They weren't as painful as they had been yesterday but they still hurt a little. The scratch on his face was also healing. Sirius was glad to see that the claw marks were indeed healing and hopefully, he will be able to fly without stalling and dragging Samara down with him this time. After all, if what or whoever was hiding in the foliage were some of the ravens and crows from the poachers or worse, Vecna, the macaws will HAVE to launch into a speedy flight. Brisa, Aurora and Zephyr also got into their triangular formation in case they would need to do this so that their chains would not get tangled up around each other and their feet in the process. Milo, Celeste, Samara and Sirius, however, had no such worry for they were chained in pairs.
As the seven macaws continued gazing at the jungle round them, their feathers flattening as they became unnerved for whenever a flying bird got frightened, their feathers would flatten against their bodies which would make for a quick flying escape without drag hindrance should a predator or other threat jump them. Then after another rustling of leaves made the seven turn THAT way only to see nothing, Milo began to get cross. He did NOT like situations like this as it always got him frightened.
"Okay, buster, you're causing us ENOUGH tension as it is already," he growled, "Show yourself this MINUTE!"
"Yeah, step out and reveal yourselves," Samara added. She winced when she realised she had spoken after Milo and she flashed him a look. Milo just gazed at her and resumed looking around with Celeste. Samara did the same and stayed close to Sirius. Zephyr, Brisa and Aurora who stood in their triangular formation, also gazed around. And just when it seemed like that things would finally explode, on a rock, a small, cute little chick appeared and emitted equally cute chirps. This chick had black feathers, a large orange beak with a black tip and a red-tinted cream face mask and front. Its cuteness immediately charmed the seven macaws and dispelled all tension. Then two more chicks appeared and flew over to the seven. They flew over to Celeste and Sirius and allowed them to cradle them. Celeste did just that with one of them while Sirius held the other in his wings and touched beaks with the chick's. Milo and even Samara looked on with amused smiles. Then four more chicks appeared and began to ask Aurora, Zephyr, Brisa and Milo for hugs and a snuggle and the four, immediately taken in by their cuteness, obliged.
"Can I pet him, Celeste?" asked Samara, her sourness put aside for now. Celeste immediately lowered the chick and allowed the female glaucous macaw to pat his head. While she did that, Sirius continued snuggling his chick while Zephyr patted the third, Aurora held the fourth, Brisa also snuggled the fifth and Milo held the sixth close to his chest. However, the seven macaws were completely unaware that this flock of toucans had mischievous intentions and were only charming them with their cuteness to get them to lower their guards.
While Samara continued petting and cooing over Celeste's toucan chick, that chick, a mischevio0us grin forming on its beak, immediately seized two of Samara's long head feathers and began to pull. Samara screeched and leaped back, making Celeste immediately jerk the toucan chick away from the glaucous macaw upon seeing this happen. Then she turned to rebuke the chick but before she could do that, the chick clamped its beak onto her chest feathers and began to pull them out one at a time. Now it was Celeste's turn to screech and she immediately dropped the chick. The chick then jumped onto her head and began to pull at her head feathers. Aurora, Zephyr and Brisa looked on when suddenly, their toucan chicks switched from cute babies to naughty hoodlums in a second and began to attack them. Aurora's chick jumped onto her back and began to ride her like a rodeo while Zephyr and Brisa's chicks began to flap around the brother and sister's heads and disorient them. Milo and Sirius were also attacked by their chicks and they also began to tear feathers out of their heads and chests. Screeches exploded from the macaws as the six chicks continued attacking, biting and pulling feathers out of them.
"STOP THIS AT ONCE, YOU..." Samara tried to rebuke but the toucan kids continued pulling feathers out of her and the other six macaws. Then another toucan kid, a seventh, appeared, jumped onto Samara's head and began to pull at her head feathers, making her screech from the pain. Nearby, Sirius tried to shake off a toucan chick as it clamped its beak onto his wing's flight feathers but the chick refused to let go. Then the toucan kids took their mischievous attack on the seven macaws a step further. One toucan chick lashed at Brisa and made her step back and around Aurora. Aurora's foot snagged onmtp her chain and she fell down.
"Oooh-er, BRISAAAAAA!" screeched the pigtailed macaw angrily. Brisa continued backing away from the toucan kid which then sent her through the gap between Sirius and Samara as they continued to ward off the attacking kids, their efforts to tell them off falling on deaf ears. Zephyr was too engrossed in dealing with two of the toucan kids as they continued to flap around his head like massive flies and disorient him. Brisa unintentionally dragged the other two Spix macaws towards the glaucous macaws and the toucan kids made Zephyr rush around Samara and tangle her up in his chain. Then Milo and Celeste were knocked into the Spix and glaucous macaws and as this happened, the seven toucan kids flew around all seven of the blue macaws to make them dizzy. The poor Lear's, Spix and glaucous macaws became dizzy from the tornado of seven comets that they became so disoriented that they began to stumble and also get entangled more in their chains. Then one of the seven toucan kids called out to another group of toucan kids in the bush and they came out. Held in their tiny talons was a long thing green tendril and they began to fly around the seven macaws to entangle them further. With them was a small blue chick, a macaw one. Aurora released an ANGRY squawk as she and the other six were bound more and more by their chains and the vine until eventually, all seven blue macaws, now a tangled mess of blue feathers, chains and vine, tumbled down onto their side. After this, another toucan kid looked skyward and screeched, "NOOOOOOW!"
Aurora, Zephyr, Brisa, Celeste, Milo, Sirius and Samara looked up also and to their horror, they saw MORE toucan kids, a dozen at least, then swoop down upon them like a swarm of flies. With these kids were two more blue macaw chicks and as soon as they were upon the seven adult macaws, the first toucan kids and macaw chick joined the attack.
Not too far away, Orion and Ahsoka continued leading Blu, Jewel and Rafael to Aurora's group.
"Carla is the musical of our chicks," Blu explained, the bats listening with intrigue, "Bia likes science like I do but Tiago..." suddenly, the two bats heard the sounds of panicked squawking. Alarm tore through them when they recognised the squawks' owners.
"AURORA AND THE OTHERS!" screeched Ahsoka and Orion together and with that, the flying foxes tore off towards the screeching. As they ran,. They stumbled with the chain, Blu, Jewel and Rafael looking on.
"I see what they mean," said Blu.
"Never mind them, LET'S FIND OUT WHY THERE IS PANICKED SQUAWKING!" Jewel cried and with that, she lofted into flight after the bats. Blu and Rafael followed, hoping it wasn't who they thought it was that was attacking a few certain macaws. Orion and Ahsoka, however, had drawn a different possibility.
As the two flying foxes, the two Spix macaws and the toco toucan finally reached Aurora and the others, they were greeted with a horrific sight. A mound of blue feathers of different shades with grey thrown in, chains and vine was being battered by a pile of black birds with a spot of blue from one of the macaw chicks. Immediately, Blu, Jewel and Rafael took action.
"HEY, CHILDREN, STOP THAT AT ONCE!" Rafael yelled at the top of his voice.
"CARLA, BIA AND TIAGO!" yelled Blu.
"COME HERE RIGHT NOW!" cried Jewel. Immediately, the swarm of black feathers with orange beaks, some of them lime green with magenta tips, came away from Aurora's group and rushed over to Rafael. The three blue blobs, one blue, one cerulean and the other azure, sort of midway between the blue shades, flew over to Blu and Jewel and began to flap excitedly around them.
"DADDY, DADDY, DADDY!" cried the kids as Rafael began to reprimand them.
"How many times have I told you NOT to attack strangers like that?" he rebuked, "Marco, Sofia, Manoela!? Ow, right in the eye," one of the toucan kids had climbed onto his head and had accidentally poked him there. Blu and Jewel also began to FIERCELY rebuke their chicks, the three of them bowing their heads in shame. While the chicks were being disciplined, Orion and Ahsoka went over to the pile of macaws, chains and vine to help sort them out.
"Are you guys alright?" asked the brown bat.
"What does it LOOK LIKE, Orion!?" Milo snapped. He was in a painfully contorted position under Zephyr and Aurora, one of the chains wrapped around his chest. The seven blue macaws were in a right state and resembled a mass of blue feathers of various shades with beaks and talons tangled in silver and green tendrils. All seven of them had tatty plumages with some feathers scattered around them, the result of some of the stupid toucan kids ripping out the feathers of a few of them and several were in painful and uncomfortable positions in the pile. While Milo was partly on his front with his wings and legs pulled into a painful position, Brisa, Aurora and Zephyr were tangled up in their chains with the latter two resting on Milo. Samara's head feathers were messy and unkempt and she was tangled up in a chain and vine tendril with Sirius and Celeste, the latter who was on her back with her wings and feet bound by another vine piece. It was indeed a messy sight and though it seemed funny as Blu barely stifled himself from laughing, Jewel giving him a rebuking tap to the back, it was NOT at all. however, a few of the toucan kids giggled at the mess but a few more, such as one called Diantha (the eighteenth chick of Rafael and his keel-billed mate Eva) and also Carla, Bia and Tiago felt a flash of remorse at what they had reduced the seven macaws into. Then Orion and Ahsoka set to work in disentangling the bound macaws.
"Macaws, use your beaks to bite through the vines while we use our teeth," said he.
"Use our teeth?" asked Ahsoka.
"Biting your way out of entanglement of a vine net is a VERY important escape technique skill we learn in the Amazon jungle. For us flying foxes, we use our teeth while macaws use their beaks," replied Orion and with that, he took up a piece of the green vine and chomped right through it, snapping the tendril. Ahsoka gazed at the brown bat and tried it herself but the only thing she did was chew on it.
"Just bite through the vine, Ahsoka," said Orion. As he told Ahsoka how to bite and break the vine, the macaws also cut the vines with their beaks.
"Boy, I remember one time when we were at Brandon's maternal grandparents' house, Sirius and I got silly with some wool string she had for she knitted," said Aurora after snapping a piece of the vine, "We played with the wool like cats and ended up tangled up in the stuff."
"And we had to bite our way out of the wool," added Sirius after snapping another piece of the vine with his beak, "and believe me, Brandon's grandmother was NOT least bit pleased."
"Well, if you've had experience with entanglement in human-made strings like wool," said Celeste after also snapping another vine piece, "Just wait until you have to deal with a MASSIVE net of vines."
"Can't we use our beaks to break our chains too?" asked Milo.
"Not recommended," said Orion as he brushed away the vine pieces and pulled a few of them out of the pile and began to set to helping the macaws finally disentangle themselves out of their chains, "You'd chip your beak on the metal stuff if you did that."
"Yes, they are VERY tough and built to withstand the jaw strength of even an adult hyacinth macaw," added Ahsoka as she took hold of Zephyr and Aurora to move them off of Milo. Milo breathed an angry sigh at the dead end of an idea.