With a loud thump, the private plane touched down at a small airport in Rio.
"There's your ride," Blu said, looking over at Jewel who was perched on the curb next to him, visibly itching to fly again, "d'you like the look of it."
Jewel Chuckled
"Not really," she admitted ,"but I mostly find it funny what humans have to do to simply fly. How are you supposed to enjoy it when you're cooped up in a tiny metal box? So claustrophobic."
"Oh, it's not so bad," Blu said ,"it's not like you're actually going to be in a cage."
At that moment Tulio walked up to the two birds and plonked a cage down on the floor in front of them
"Ok Jewel," Tulio said ,"you're doing great, now just get in the cage."
Jewel squawked in alarm and stepped away from the cage.
"I am not getting in that!" Jewel exclaimed.
"I know you've had a bad experience with cages in the past," Blu reassured," but this one isn't going to take you to somewhere where you'll be eaten or trapped forever. It's for your own good."
Jewel scoffed
"I think I would have a better idea of what's good for me, rather than these bi pedal bozos." She said ,"Macaws are meant for jungles and waterfalls and huge lakes, not tiny cubes."
"Well... you can go do waterfalls when you get back." blu suggested uncertainty.
"That'd be nice ,"Jewel replied ,"I look forward to showing you the ropes of the jungle."
One of the flight crew walked over to Tulio who was trying to coax Jewel into the cage.
"You better get the bird in the box soon Mr," the man said in a gruff voice, "we're set to fly in 5 minutes."
Finally Jewel sighed
"Fine, I'll get in the cage."
Jewel gingerly stepped towards the cage. She knocked the door open with her head and cautiously stepped inside, shuddering as her feet met the cold metal floor. Suddenly Tulio slammed the door shut and locked it, making Jewel almost jump out of her skin.
Blu waved goodbye to his love as she was carried away, still rolling her words around in his head, "show you the ropes". Tulio walked up to the private plane he had hired and gently placed Jewel in the back of it.
"Have a safe flight!" he said before closing the door.
Jewel stood silently in the middle of the cold cage, the sounds of the outside world muffled by the walls of the plane. She was struck by an overwhelming sense of entrapment, as if she was being smothered by an invisible blanket.
Suddenly one of the pilots opened the door and got in, along with the copilot.
"Ok," Jewel said to herself ,"maybe this won't be so bad. It's just flying, it'll be fine."
The aeroplane started to move, the bumping and jostling of the plane, shaking her about like a maraca. She desperately gripped the mesh of the cage with her talons but it was hard to get a good hold. Then the plane took off, causing Jewel to have to strain against the extra G force that attempted to plaster her against the back wall of the cage. It was as if she had suddenly tripled in weight and her muscles couldn't compensate
Immediately after Jewel felt that she was getting used to the higher G force, she felt a growing pressure, deep inside her ears. The feeling slowly grew worse and worse, as if someone was slowly inflating balloons inside her head, building up pressure until something would go pop.
Jewel groaned and reached up to cover her ears, but she forgot about her broken wing and twangs of pain forced her hurt wing down again. Covering her ears didn't help, nothing helped. She gritted her non existent teeth and tried to calm herself down
Out of nowhere the plane shook.
"We are experiencing some turbulence," the pilot said jokingly.
"Oh can it Bob," said the copilot ,"it's a bird, it can't understand you."
Already disorientated by the pain, Jewel lost her balance and tumbled backwards, hitting her head hard against the bars of the cage. She squawked loudly before the world seemed to lose focus and she drifted off into troubled sleep.
