Chapter 15- Orion and Ahsoka leave to find help

Next morning

The sun rose into the sky east of Rio, its blinding disc slowly creeping from under the Atlantic Ocean horizon and painting the water near it a golden colour. As the sun rose, so did the communities of both Rio and the forest. The early rising humans got up to start their morning routine, the streets beginning to fill with them. However, among those humans was a pair of certain twin siblings accompanied by a calico cat, Dalmatian puppy and young raven and they were taking an early morning walk. Jack, Jill, Katrina, Sunspot and Charon were on this walk to escape the stresses of the smugglers' den and one of the stresses was the constant nagging from Peter, Marv, Vera and the other cats, dogs, ravens and crows and also Vecna who was still in a VILE mood (more so than Samara); he was still UTTERLY furious at being outwitted by Milo and Celeste last night and was desperate to take to the air and hunt those macaws and flying foxes down for revenge. The rest of the poachers were also UTTERLY angry as their entire catch including the nine invaluable animals which they saw as nothing but prized diamonds of the rarest variety had escaped. Jack, Jill, Katrina, Sunspot and Charon were flooded with guilt but also fright and distress, tears streaming down their faces and sniffles escaping their noses and Jill was in pain, her left arm's wrist wrapped in a bandage due to an injury. Before they left, Marv had had a go at the twins while Lysandre had a go at Katrina, Brutus at Sunspot and Dooku at Charon who accused the five of being lazy and unhelpful. The four were still UTTERLY moody and Jack's group just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then the confrontation between Marv's group and Jack's group escalated into a volcanic argument between the five and the subgroup leaders until eventually, it culminated in an explosion different for each of them: Marv had slapped Jack across the face and called him and Jill useless; Lysandre slapped Katrina across the face as well; Brutus snarled at Sunspot and drove him off and Dooku had pecked Charon on the wing in an attempt to injure it but Charon had pecked him back and fled. However, the worst member the five had ran into was the rotten Vecna and he lashed at the five in a fit of UTMOST rage, chasing them out of the door. He had managed to clamp his beak onto Jill's left wrist HARD and inflict a NASTY bite but Jill had kicked the swan in the chest to make him let go and fled after the other four, escaping with a nasty bite mark to her wrist which was why Jill had a bandage right now. Jack had managed to buy a small first aid kit from a shop using what meagre money he had and had treated Jill's injury with Charon helping, the young raven somehow having an understanding of first aid, having watched Dooku and Bryony, the female Border collie, treat a bitten paw of a dog that had been bitten by one of the caged birds when he handled its cage. He had learned the technique via observation and had practiced it on himself by using a piece of cloth on his own leg, pretending it to be injured. Charon was indeed a smart and resourceful raven for his age and if he reached adulthood, he would probably have the intelligence level rivalling that of Nigel or even Blu and thankfully, he was on the good side and not evil. Back to Jack with his first aid kit, the twins were never paid much by their boss Frank, like his three underlings as he saw them as weak and pathetic, another reason why the twins were miserable. Katrina was also seen by Xerosic and the other cats as stupid and dumb as are Sunspot by Brutus and the other dogs and Charon by Dooku and the other ravens and crows and also by Vecna despite his intelligence. These five were essentially a parallel to Fernando on Marcel's group indeed.

Jack, Jill (with her bandaged wrist), Katrina, Sunspot and Charon continued their walk, the former also carrying some feathers and a few hairs. He had managed to keep these feathers and hairs throughout the night and the morning when Marv and some of the others violently confronted them. As they continued, Jill saw something on the lamppost and pointed her right hand's finger to it.

"Jack, guys, look," she said, making Jack and the three pets follow her point, "There are 'missing' posters struck to that lamppost and they seem to have four of the animals we had taken from Tulio's Aviary through that air vent pipe."

Jack immediately launched into a short sprint to the lamppost with Jill, Katrina and Sunspot following behind and Charon flying after them. As the five stopped before the lamppost, they examined the posters more closely. One of the posters had two blue macaws perched on the shoulders of a young man with one of them being maya blue and sporting pigtails and the other, grey and azure with yellow facial features like a hyacinth macaw. Katrina winced when she recognised the location of the cabin the three were in.

"That must be one of those cars on the UK's most iconic landmark, the London Eye Ferris wheel," she told Sunspot and Charon. The three then gazed with Jack and Jill at the other two posters. The second one was of a young woman with a navy blue macaw with yellow facial markings and what appeared to be a restaurant behind them while the third was another young woman with a large ginger and red bat hanging from her arm with two famous Spix macaws sat on a branch behind them. All three posters had the word 'missing' written on them with an arrow pointing to the four animals. Jack then reached out and pulled the three posters from the lamppost before pulling out a few of the feathers and hairs he had kept and compared them to the four animals in the posters which were printed in colour. As he did that and saw that the feathers and the hairs were a match, the guilt within him flared all the more and he flinched. Jill, Sunspot, Katrina and Charon also winced, especially as the latter three identified the four in the posters. The glaucous macaw in Brandon's poster was the same macaw Katrina and Sunspot confronted and restrained while the Spix macaw in the same poster was the same one Charon tried to confront only to be clawed in the face by her.

"We need to take those posters and those feathers and hairs to those four animals' owners," Jack, Jill said, "But the question is, where are they?"Jack gazed at her sister when an idea entered his head.

"Tulio's Aviary," he said, "The same place we stole those seven blue macaws and two flying foxes. Let's go there."

And immediately, he darted off with Jill following. Charon flew after them while Sunspot and Katrina galloped.

Later, at Tulio's Aviary

Brandon, Audrey, Joanna and Francisco talked with Tulio, Linda and Fernando outside the entrance to the conservation centre while around them, the policemen and investigators continued their work. The premises were still closed off by the black and white 'Do Not Cross' banners and the guards were still being questioned. Then Luca came up to Tulio's group, a serious look on his face with Alejandra.

"The theft of those nine animals was definitely the work of a second band of smugglers," said the lead chiroptologist.

"They must have had some intelligent birds use the ventilation system to sneak into the artificial jungle room and steal them through that route," added the latter, "Thereby avoiding our upgraded security instalments like the motion trip lasers. But the question is; where is that second band of poachers' hideout?"

"I was gonna ask how are we gonna find those seven blue macaws and two flying foxes," said Linda.

"We will need to do just that as soon as we can," said Tulio, before his gaze travelled to the jungle surrounding the conservation centre, "If a second band of smugglers really ARE here, I worry for Blu and his family due to their rarity. It wouldn't surprise me if they plan on going after them."

Linda breathed a dismaying sigh. She almost lost Blu to the first band of smugglers a while ago and could not bear the thought of him facing smugglers a second time, certainly not with chicks. As she shuddered at this thought, Audrey, Joanna and Brandon walked around, the stress over their missing animal companions gripping them as well, especially Joanna since Ahsoka still could not fly. However, a glimmer of hope was about to penetrate the dismal greyness of the clouds.

Jack, Jill, Katrina, Sunspot and Charon ran down the road flanked by a row of trees, the posters and the feathers and hairs clutched in the boy's hands. When they saw the sign for the conservation centre and the building itself up ahead, the five accelerated their approach until they reached the banner closing sealing off the premises. Jack and Jill immediately ducked under the banners and continued towards the building itself while Charon, Katrina and Sunspot simply followed under the ribbon. However, their approach hasn't gone unnoticed as Audrey had seen them enter the premises.

"T-T-Tulio," she called, "G-g-g-guys, look, there are t-t-two kids coming towards us with a c-c-cat, a dog and a crow," she indicated with a finger point. Tulio, Linda, Fernando, Francisco, Luca, Alejandra, Brandon and Joanna followed Audrey's point and saw Jack's group continue to approach them, something clutched in the boy's hands. As they stopped before Tulio and company, the lead ornithologist came towards them, a frown on his face but Jack spoke before he could, his gaze on three certain humans.

"Excuse me, are you three the owners of these macaws and flying fox?" asked he and with that, he handed the posters to Brandon, Audrey and Joanna.

"You two shouldn't be here," said Tulio firmly, before his disapproving eyes travelled to Katrina, Sunspot and Charon, "And get those animals of yours off the premises as well, especially that cat and that dog. These premises are STRICTLY off limits to those pets," his eyes then travelled to Charon as he perched on Jill's shoulder, "But as for that raven..."

"Charon here is our pet raven," explained Jill before Tulio could continue as Jack then produced a few blue feathers and a few orange hairs and showed them to him and also to Brandon, Audrey and Joanna. Sirius, Aurora and Milo's owners and Ahsoka's carer took these feathers and examined them closely. Then recognition took hold.

"These feathers are from my macaws," said Brandon as he identified the source of the maya blue and azure feathers. Audrey also identified the navy blue feathers as being from Milo and Joanna identified the orange hairs as being from Ahsoka, her foster bat. Tulio, Linda and Fernando came in with Francisco and Luca while Alejandra left to talk to a policeman.

"Those light blue feathers look like a few of Jewel's," said the red-haired woman and Tulio's wife, "But I can't say that the slightly darker blue feathers are from Blu as his feathers are too dark a blue. Those feathers are more sea-blue."

"And Sirius has feathers of that shade, Linda," said Brandon, "While the light blue feathers are from Aurora."

Tulio then took the feathers and a few of the hairs and examined them carefully. Then he put one of the maya blue feathers into his mouth to taste it. Katrina, Charon and Sunspot looked on in both wonder and slight disgust but then when Tulio's eyes lit up and replied with, "The feather is definitely from Aurora and not from Jewel, and as for those two other feathers," he took them and tasted each one in turn and identified Sirius and Milo. Amazement ignited within Joanna, Audrey, Brandon and also Jack, Jill, Sunspot, Charon and Katrina.

"He's like a dog except via tongue," said the Dalmatian. Then Tulio took the hairs and tasted them as well to the slight disgust of Audrey and company and also Jack and his group. Linda explained.

"My husband here has the remarkable talent in identifying individual birds from their feathers and also bats from their hair," she said.

"A pretty gross one at that," said Joanna, her face slightly twisted into a repulsed look. Then Tulio spoke, "These hairs are from Joanna's bat Ahsoka, so that boy and that girl must have managed to obtain those hairs and the feathers from them before they were taken perhaps..." as he mentioned 'before they were taken', Jack and his group winced as that flared their guilt again. THEY were the ones who took those animals and they knew it but they were too afraid to tell the truth.

"If Ahsoka, Sirius, Aurora and Milo are wherever they are, so will those two other Spix macaws, the other glaucous macaw, the other Lear's macaw and the other Amazon flying fox," Tulio said. Then Jill stepped forward.

"We know where those macaws and flying foxes are," she said.

"You do?" asked Joanna, the hope within her, Brandon and Audrey flaring up.

"You will need to follow us," said Jack. Sunspot, Charon and Katrina also uttered a bark, a caw and a meow in agreement. Tulio gazed at the twins with uncertainty. This was eerily familiar as Fernando had done the same thing with Linda when he took Blu and Jewel. However, since he was determined to find the smugglers' hideout, he decided to go along with the twins without hesitation this time. Turning to the other humans, he began to distribute instructions.

"Linda, Fernando, Luca, you stay here with the other employees at my Aviary and help out where appropriate," he told his wife, adoptive son and Luca, "While the rest of us follow that boy and that girl and their pets to the location where Aurora and the other eight are held. Hopefully, we'll also find the den of the second group of smugglers. When we do, we'll alert you. Okay, let's GO!"

And with that, the humans split up with Tulio and company following Jack and Jill and Linda, Fernando and Luca returning to Tulio's Aviary to continue the investigative work on its premises. Tulio had hoped that these smugglers would be found and soon. If they were indeed after Blu and his family as he had feared, then that was a MASSIVE alarm bell.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle

Aurora's group was also awake and they were working on breaking their chains. Milo was trying to pick the anklet attached to Samara's right foot to remove the chain from her so that she could return to the jungle as soon as she could as she wished. Milo had experience in picking padlocks and had helped his owner Audrey to do this when Audrey had sometimes lost or forgotten her keys to them so he was applying the skill to the anklet on the chains as well. However, picking an anklet ring was proving a challenge for him but he refused to give up. Sirius also looked on, hoping that Milo's idea would work as he also wanted to be away from Samara and her rotten attitude. Celeste stood aside and out of the way to prevent the chain linking her to Milo from getting in the way while he worked on Samara's anklet.

"Are you ABSOLUTELY sure about leaving for the jungle once Milo remove that chain from you, Samara?" Celeste asked, "You know those poachers will be hot on your tail since you are a glaucous macaw and you will NOT be able to stand a chance against their crows and ravens and especially that swan Vecna. You saw how he managed to flatten me, Orion, Zephyr and Brisa back there."

"At least I will be away from the mud-pets," Samara coldly replied as she continued watching Milo try to remove the chain ring on her right leg.

"And at least we'll have a bad apple out of our group as well," Sirius added to which Samara refused to respond. Milo then began to grumble as he worked on the anklet.

"Those poachers HONESTLY had the brains of a COCKROACH to chain us together like this," he snarled, "If they were here right now, I would claw..."

"Just focus on gettin' that STINKIN' thing off my leg, mud-pet," snapped Samara. Milo flashed her a glare.

"Stop callin' us mud-pets, mate!" he retorted.

"I'm NOT your mate," Samara snapped again. Celeste rolled her eyes before turning her attention to the other five, the three Spix macaws and the two flying foxes.

"How are you doing trying to snap Brisa's chain from Aurora and Zephyr with that rock, you two?" she asked. Orion and Ahsoka were raising and plunging a rock onto Brisa's chain while Zephyr and Aurora stood back as far as their chain allowed them for their safety. After all, they didn't want the bats to trip over their chain while carrying the rock as that would injure one or both of them. Not to mention the fact that Ahsoka and Orion were chained together themselves and they didn't want that chain entangling with Zephyr and Aurora's. Like separating the glaucous macaws so that Samara can leave the group, separating Brisa from the other two Spix macaws was a priority.

"Once we have (grunt)... dealt with the chains... (grunt)... I will be heading back into the jungle with... Brisa, Zephyr and Celeste..." Orion grunted, grunting between pieces of his sentence as he lifted the rock up and slammed it down with Ahsoka, slamming it onto Brisa's chain, "While you three... take Ahsoka back to Joanna... and hopefully teach her to fly..." as he slammed the rock onto Brisa's chain again, Ahsoka flashed a sad look.

"What about Samara?" asked Aurora with a point to the pretty but foul-attitude bearing glaucous macaw.

"She will be going her own separate way to us," said Zephyr blankly, his glare on Samara as she sourly looked away.

"Yes, her attitude is FAR too foul, even for us," added Brisa.

"And please, don't bother with her, pet girl. She HATES pets and wants to be away from you, especially Sirius," Zephyr added.

"My name's Aurora," said Aurora.

"Whatever," said Zephyr.

"Well, keep in mind that those poachers will be after you, mate," said Milo as he continued to pick Samara's anklet, "Especially that rotten swan Vecna. I bet he will be a flying volcano after how we have outsmarted him last night."

Zephyr and Brisa winced when the male Lear's macaw who grew up in Australia mentioned that vile swan. The memory of being crushed under that winged beast was fresh in their minds as a newly opened claw mark and Zephyr had actually had nightmares of being crushed to death by a swan-like creature last night. Orion and Celeste also winced and as they remembered this horrific attack from Vecna, the four began to reconsider their decision to go their separate way from Aurora, Sirius, Milo and Ahsoka. And surprisingly, even Samara was beginning to reconsider as she too was assaulted by Vecna once but he had grabbed her neck and almost choked her and not crushed her under his belly. Samara had only got a taste of how powerful Vecna was but Zephyr, Brisa, Orion and Celeste had got a much larger dose. However, if Samara was to stay, she was to shed the toxic personality traits as mentioned before and change her attitude. Then Milo felt he was approaching the goal of releasing Samara's right ankle from the chain ring and he built tension as he worked harder.

"I think... I am... getting close to..." he grunted harder and harder but then what happened next went by in an explosion, both metaphorically and physically. Milo's talon claw suddenly shot out of the anklet and due to the built up potential energy from his effort to unlock the ring, it shot at and accidentally carved a short scratch in Samara's belly, making the female glaucous macaw yelp in pain and then caused Milo to stumble back into Celeste, knocking her down to her shock. Sirius also flinched from the shock and when Milo who was helped to her feet by Celeste saw that he had accidentally scratched Samara, horrified regret washed over him. the Spix macaws and the bats also winced and thankfully, the bats had the rock down on Brisa's chain at that moment.

"I am EVER SO SORRY, Samara," Milo apologised.

"That worked (!)" Samara retorted sarcastically.

"How are we gonna get these VILE metallic pieces of junk off of us now then?" asked Sirius sourly, his bitter gaze also on the chain linking him to Samara.

"I dunno, mate," Milo replied, "But I am NOT gonna risk inflicting another scratch on either you or Samara again. Those rings are on TIGHT."

The glaucous macaws breathed a sigh and sat down. As Celeste then picked up a moss nearby and went over to treat Samara's small scratch inflicted on her by Milo by accident, Milo turned to the flying foxes as they had finally given up and put aside the rock.

"How are you doing with Brisa's chain?" asked he.

"Not good, I'm afraid," said Orion, "These silver snakes are too tough. Brisa's one just not breaking."

"And fatigue has crept into our backs just trying to lift that stone up and down to break it as well," said Ahsoka as she sat down to rest. She then glared at how the Spix macaws were chained and shook her head. "Surely there must be a resident here in this natural jungle who would help out..."

Then an idea entered Ahsoka's head. "I know, I will leave and search for help here but that would mean that Orion will have to come with me."

"We cannot fly about the canopy, Ahsoka," said Orion, "You cannot fly and I'm chained to you."

"Well, we need help nonetheless, Orion," Ahsoka replied firmly, "Then we'll have to walk."

Orion rolled his eyes and admitted defeat. Ahsoka then turned to the blue macaws.

"You seven stay here while we go out to find help," she said, "We'll be back as soon as we can, hopefully with someone."

And with that, the two chained flying foxes left. As the winged mammals receded further away into the distance to find help, the blue macaws began to talk among themselves.

"And I was gonna leave you lot as well," Samara grumbled, "Especially the mud-pets."

"Well you can't do that until you're separated from Sirius, Samara," said Celeste.

"True but after what you including the mud-pets keep telling me about how I'm not gonna stand a chance against those smugglers, especially their mud-pets and that ROTTEN swan," Samara replied, "I'm beginning to reconsider."

"Then you'll have to get rid of that rotten attitude, Samara," said Zephyr, "If you wanna make friends, change your ways."

"We cannot be friends with a rotten macaw like you," Brisa added, making Samara shoot her a look, "In fact; we might even shun you altogether."

Samara winced again but then Aurora added, "Extend that to most of the other animals."

Samara winced a third time before turning her back and sitting down, her face away from the other six macaws. Sirius looked on.

"At least she is right on one thing," he told the other five sourly.

"And what's that?" asked Milo. Sirius' eyes narrowed.

"Those smugglers' pets are mud-pets and TRUE ones at that," growled he, "Especially that vicious swan."

Aurora and Milo gazed back at the male glaucous macaw in surprise, especially at how he had adopted Samara's offensive term for an animal owned by humans to describe those working for smugglers without remorse.

"That's an excellent fit, pet glaucous boy," said Zephyr.

"Indeed they ARE mud-pets," added Brisa. Celeste, despite loathing the term, nodded in agreement. Samara, however, took no notice as she entered into a sulk and began to ponder over her behaviour towards others as well as what Celeste and the others had told her about others shunning her because of her attitude. For the first time, it seemed that the erosion of the toxic shield she and also her rotten mother Tremaine had built around her was finally beginning.