Chapter 28- increased haste

Meanwhile

Zephyr, Aurora, Sirius, Milo, Orion, Rafael and Luiz continued along, the former six flying ahead of the galloping latter, the bulldog. As they continued, Rafael said, "I sure hope Alabaster, Nico an' Pedro have managed to track those horrid ravens and crows and their captured victims, among 'em my lovely Eva an' 25 precious little ones, to where they are headed."

"Huh, it sure was a BRIGHT idea for you to allow your screechy mate an' troublesome toucan kids to accompany us, Rafael," grumbled Aurora, "They SHOULD have stayed back in the jungle where they would have been safer."

"I kinda agree," put in Luiz as he ran alongside the birds and Orion, "It was pretty silly if you ask me."

"Eva told me she wanted to come with ALL our kiddos, Aurora," Rafael replied, "She wouldn't have been least impressed if I didn't allow her and she can be quite the toucan to avoid when unimpressed like that."

"Well then, Eva is the one at fault for endangering herself and ALL her and your kids then," Orion retorted, "If I were in your feathers and I had a mate and we had a large brood, I would absolutely and adamantly tell her to NOT come with us on this human place misadventure whether she liked it or not. It would have been a danger for her and it would have been a danger to our kids."

"What makes you want to yield to Eva's demands, anyway, mate?" asked Milo.

"Happy wife, happy life," Rafael replied, "It's been my crucial philosophical quote since a friend of mine said it to me."

Disapproval rolled through the others except Luiz.

"That isn't always the case," Zephyr said, "Suppose you have a wife that is NEVER happy no matter how much you invest in the relationship for her sake?"

"I've heard of married and mated couples in that situation," said Aurora.

"Bad quote, I believe," put in Sirius, "If I paired up with Samara while she was still bratty, it would be a bad relationship."

"Exactly, Sirius," said Orion. The male flying fox then lowered his ears as the argument he had with Ahsoka prior to her kidnap along with Brisa and the others replayed in his mind and stoked the fires of regret. "But that aside, I am truly sorrowful over what I have said to Ahsoka before those rotten ravens caught her and made off with her..."

"Put that aside for now, Orion," said Sirius, "We have a rescue to focus on."

"Alabaster, Nico and Pedro should be on their way back to us right now..." Zephyr said when suddenly, the group heard their names get called by three familiar voices. Zephyr smiled, "Right on cue."

With that, he and the others looked skyward and saw three birds, a yellow and brown canary; a grey, red and white chubby cardinal and a pure white parrot with a bright yellow crest and yellow markings on his wing and tail undersides appeared. Immediately, the group stopped as Alabaster, Nico and Pedro touched down.

"What have you to report, you three?" asked Aurora, "Did you manage to track those ravens and crows with the cages containing Blu and the others?"

"We did," Alabaster replied, "They have..."

"Placed Blu an' the others with more caged animals," Nico said, interrupting the sulphur-crested cockatoo to his annoyance, "An' gathered there was a diverse group of cats an' dogs of various breeds besides a massive swan..." then he and Pedro launched into a cacophonous babble in an attempt to explain to Aurora and the others what they had seen. They were trying to do it so fast and at the same time that they made so sense whatsoever and Alabaster looked on at the samba duo in annoyance, clearly reluctant to explain anything now with those two excitement-propelled little birds trying to rapidly deliver their report. Then Orion stepped in.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA, SHUT UUUUP!" the brown flying fox yelled at the top of his voice, silencing both Nico and Pedro but making Rafael, Aurora, Zephyr, Milo, Luiz and Sirius flinch. This done, Orion asked the next question.

"Now, explain to us what you saw, one at a time please," he said.

"Dose carcass-consumin' songbird vultures 'ave taken Blu, his family, Eva an' th' toucan kids, Alabaster's hot wing Poppy, Ahsoka, Samara, Brisa an' Celeste t' a gathering of other songbird vultures an' also a vast assortment o' cats an' dogs an' a MASSIVE long-necked white waterbird," Nico said.

"An' they 'ad placed 'em among a pile of other caged victims," said Pedro.

"And Ahsoka had managed to escape and challenged that massive swan to a fight only to suffer a humiliating loss and get re-caged," added Alabaster. Orion and the others winced violently when they heard this.

"Ahsoka had tried fighting VECNA!?" Milo blurted out.

"She could have gotten BADLY HURT or WORSE!" Aurora put in.

"What an INCREDIBLY FOOLISH flying fox," added Sirius.

"That swan is HONESTLY more than TWICE our size and possibly STRONGER than ALL of us including Rafael and Eva's silly lot COMBINED!" added Zephyr.

"Indeed, that swan certainly WAS a massive beast," added Rafael. He felt his insides ache as he dreaded what sort of torment his beloved Eva and toucan kids would likely face at the mercy of that beast.

"Do you know where Vecna and the others had gathered?" asked Orion.

"Never mind that," Sirius said. He then turned to the cardinal, canary and yellow crested cockatoo and commanded, "Take us to WHERE you found Vecna and his group had gathered as FAST AS YOU CAN!"

Nico and Pedro nodded quickly, whirled round and shot back into the sky, Alabaster right behind them. Orion, Sirius, Zephyr, Aurora and Milo rocketed after the three while Rafael and Luiz continued back on the ground, the toucan flying alongside his bulldog friend. Aurora and Sirius gazed back at the pair but Rafael assured them. Luiz, due to being a bulldog, was a land animal and thus could only run.

"You guys go on ahead," said the toco toucan, "We'll catch up."

"Jus' make sure not t' fly too fast such that we cannot see you or we'll get left behind," added Luiz. Immediately, Aurora and Sirius turned round and continued flying after the others as they followed Nico, Pedro and Alabaster. Rafael and Luiz then charged after them on the ground.

Meanwhile

The second smugglers' den had been closed off by the police and they cleared the place out of any remaining empty cages. Tulio had managed to report the place's location to the police force and once he had done that, he had joined a squadron of police out hunting for Frank and his group. Joining him were Linda, Fernando, Audrey, Joanna, Brandon, Francisco and Luca and a band of conservationists armed with net guns and cages normally used for catching and containing animals they wanted to bring back to Tulio's Aviary for either conservation purposes or to tend to them medically, or both. Jewel, Orion, Samara, Zephyr, Brisa and Celeste had been captured this way by a group of them during their rare species search expeditions and had been brought to Tulio's Aviary this way. Now the group was going to use them to capture the poachers' pets, Tulio having told them that they were assisted by a bunch of corvids, cats and dogs and also a massive and possibly an incredibly vicious and dangerous swan based on Jack and Jill's description when the twins were confronted by Marv and Vera back at the smugglers' den during their visit. Based on this, a group of specialist animal capturers had been enlisted and they had kitted themselves out accordingly to capture Vecna. As soon as the group was prepared, Tulio and company left on their search for the poachers and also Blu and his family, and Aurora, Zephyr, Brisa, Milo, Celeste, Sirius, Samara, Ahsoka and Orion. Linda, Audrey, Joanna and Brandon had hoped that their animal friends were alright and that they were not too late, especially Linda regarding Blu and his family. The police had also enlisted the help of sniffer dogs who will use their enhanced sense of smell to sniff out the poachers and also any captured animals they may have in their possession with Blu and his family and the nine-still missing animals being the most important. Tulio had hoped that they would find the poachers and their loot before the storm arrived.