Rio 2

by Christa Roberts

  “I’ll be the one to surprise her,” he told himself, filled with determination. “Breakfast in bed, coming up!”

  Linda and Tulio continued to search for more Spix’s Macaws. They had climbed up in a tree for a better vantage point, when a bunch of bats flew out of a hole in the tree, startling Tulio. He lost his grip and suddenly found himself dangling from the ropes.

  “Tulio!” Linda cried. “Tulio, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Tulio told her. “I’m okay.”

  But something wasn’t okay. In the distance they could make out smoke. They hurried to investigate. A long double row of trees was marked with red X’s spray painted on them. In between the rows, the underbrush had been cut and slashed, leaving an ugly gaping hole in the greenery. A chain saw was roaring nearby.

  “Tulio, they’re cutting down the forest,” Linda whispered, her voice shaking with rage. She pushed past him, toward the loggers.

  “Linda!” Tulio exclaimed. “Where are you going?”

  Linda kept moving. “To talk to them. You talk to birds, I talk to humans.”

  “No, wait! Don’t!” Tulio pleaded.

  Linda stepped up behind a huge man using a chain saw. “Hey! Hey, mister!” she said, jabbing him with her finger. “Hellooooo?”

  The logger spun around, almost hitting her with the saw. “You take it easy with that chain saw,” she told him. “There are rare birds living around here. You can’t cut down those trees.”

  The man just stared at Linda.

  “Oooh, sweetheart!” Tulio said, running up to them. “There you are! I was looking for you.” He turned to the logger. “Beautiful out here, isn’t it?” He smiled broadly.

  “You two lost?” came a voice. It was the foreman.

  “Lost? No, no, hahaha, lost. Ah, we’re here on our honeymoon,” Tulio said, forcing a chuckle. “We’re actually just heading back to join the tour.” He tugged on Linda’s arm. “Come along, dear. Let’s go. Let’s go. We’re late.”

  The foreman was still studying them as Tulio dragged Linda away. “Linda, logs aren’t the only things these guys cut,” he said as they left.

  “Let’s see how tough they act when we call the authorities!” she fumed.

  Tulio pulled her along, but he kept looking back over his shoulder. He had the sneaking suspicion they were being followed.

  Blu flew back and forth, looking for a Brazil nut tree. “Where are those things?” he said, landing on a branch. “I know they’re around here somewhere.”

  A hand reached out of the leaves and tapped him on the shoulder. Blu spun around. No one was there. But then another hand grabbed his tail.

  Click! A hand grabbed his fanny pack. Monkeys! They took off running across the branches.

  “Hey!” Blu cried angrily. “Hey, hey! No, hey! Hey! Come back here!” Blu chased the monkeys through the jungle, desperate to get his stuff back. Now the monkeys were rifling through his fanny pack. His stuff was spilling out. One monkey grabbed the GPS.

  “Hey, no! Stop it!” Blu shouted. The monkey tossed the GPS. “No, no! Be careful with that!” Blu lunged forward, catching it just in time.

  Another monkey took out Blu’s electric toothbrush. “No! No! Don’t do it!” Blu pleaded, horrified to see the monkey shove the brush in his ear. “Ewwww!”

  Monkeys were looping Blu’s roll of toilet paper all over the branches. “Stop it!” he yelled. Not watching where he was going, Blu flew deeper into the jungle.

  He spotted one of the monkeys sitting on a branch, inspecting the fanny pack. Blu reached over and snatched it back. “Gotcha!” He was breathing hard. “Thank you,” he said sarcastically.

  Blu looked around. He was in a huge Brazil nut tree grove. “Finally, Brazil nuts,” he said. He landed on a branch, opened his fanny pack, and pulled out his Adventurer’s Knife. “This is my most important tool,” he declared. He slid up the can-opener apparatus and used it to try to pry a nut loose. It didn’t work. So he tried the corkscrew and then the set of pliers. Nothing.

  “Ugh, everything but a knife,” he said, frustrated. He tossed the knife back into his fanny pack and attacked the nut with his talons. Then he tried to pull a nut pod off the tree with his beak. Despite some serious tugging, it was on there tight.

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

  Blu looked up to see Felipe landing nearby with his gang of red macaws. They were all smiling widely at him. Too widely.

  This made Blu nervous. He clutched the branch.

  “I guess old Eddie’s rules don’t apply to everyone,” Felipe said, squinting at him. “You’re on our side.”

  “Oh, oh really? Okay. My bad,” Blu apologized, gulping. “I didn’t know that.” He let go of the branch and it snapped forward, launching the nut pod into the air and smacking the red macaw in the face.

  “Oh! Oops!” Blu cried. “Sorry! Sorry!”

  The red macaw rubbed his beak where the nut pod had hit him. “You come over here, you take our food, and now you insult me,” he said with a steely glare.

  “Oh, oh, no, no, no,” Blu squeaked out. “This is all just a big misunderstanding.”

  “You know, I wish I could accept your apology. You seem like a nice bird,” the red macaw said coldly. “But this means war.”

  “What?” Blu was aghast. “Does it have to? Can it mean something else?”

  Felipe’s eyes narrowed. “Today. In the pit of doom.”

  Blu let out a nervous giggle. “Sorry. The pit of doom? Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, really,” Blu said, swallowing.

  “High noon. Oh, I’ll make some room. Sweep you up like a broom.” Then Felipe and his gang took off, laughing.

  What have I done? Blu wondered, watching them fly away.

  “You did what?” Eduardo yelled again. His feathers stood on edge and his voice trembled with anger.

  “It was an accident,” Blu tried to explain for the third time. His father-in-law was definitely furious. Things were not looking—or feeling—good.

  Jewel flew in and took in the tense scene. “Hey, whoa, what’s going on?”

  Eduardo snorted. “Thanks to Stu here, we’re going to have to battle for the foraging rights to the entire grove!” He threw up his wings in disgust.

  “I was just trying to get a nut!” Blu told Jewel. “One nut!”

  “You don’t even like nuts,” Jewel said, staring at him. “What’s gotten into you, Blu?”

  “I was getting it for you!” Blu burst out, frustrated.

  Jewel’s eyes softened. “Oh, you were?”

  “Roberto, get your best birds on this,” Eduardo said, resigned. “It’s gonna be brutal.”

  Roberto nodded. “I’m on it.”

  Eduardo looked at Blu. “All right, you stay behind, we’ll deal with this.”

  “Wait—” Blu said.

  “Blu, he’s right,” Jewel said. “Maybe you should let Dad and Roberto handle it.”

  Didn’t Jewel believe in him? “You don’t think I can do this,” he said flatly.

  She hesitated. “No, I—I just don’t know if it’s your area of expertise.”

  A huge mass of blue macaws had gathered along a deep Amazonian gorge. Across from them were an equal number of red macaws. The blue macaws, led by Roberto, were chanting and thumping their feet in what looked like a primal war dance. They looked like armies preparing for battle.

  “This is ridiculous!” Blu told Eduardo. “We can share the grove.”

  “You brought this on us,” Eduardo told him. “Now watch.”

  Roberto faced off against Felipe in the middle of the arena. The tension was building.

  A referee bird placed a Brazil nut in between them. Roberto grabbed the nut and kicked it to another blue macaw, who in turn head butted it toward the goal. The red goalie made the save.

  “Push up!” the red goalie yelled, punting the nut back into play.

  It dawned on Blu what was going on. This wasn’t
a duel to the death. It was a game. Air soccer! “It’s a game? It’s only a game,” he said, relieved.

  “It’s not a game, it’s war,” Eduardo boomed.

  “It’s like air soccer!” Blu exclaimed. “I can do this! Like Pele, Ronaldinho, or Neymar! I watch those guys on TV all the time! Ha ha!” He turned to Eduardo. “So what position do I play?”

  Eduardo’s eyes were slits. “Actually, I do have the perfect spot for you.”

  The perfect spot turned out to be the bench. Blu sat there, miserable, wedged between some loser birds, watching as Roberto made cool move after cool move.

  “Goalllll!” Tiago shouted when Roberto scored. The blue macaws went wild, tackling Roberto.

  “Show-off,” Blu muttered. He flew off the bench and along the side of the stadium, starting the wave.

  The referee tossed another nut into play. Blue and red feathers were flying as both teams went after the ball. The reds got it and went for the goal. Score! Now the game was tied.

  The game was fast and furious. Roberto managed to get the nut and scored again. Now it was 2 to 1. “I could have done that,” Blu said as everyone congratulated Roberto.

  Eduardo heard him. “You’re in!” he shouted.

  Blu pointed to himself. “Really?”

  “Not you,” Eduardo said. “You!” Blu watched as the old decrepit macaw Eduardo had actually been pointing to limped out onto the field.

  “Watch and learn,” the old macaw said, and then promptly injured himself.

  Eduardo stared at Blu. He was out of options. “All right, get in there.”

  “Yes!” Blu shouted, flying out to join the others.

  “Yeah, Dad!” Bia yelled. Blu looked back to see his kids cheering him on. It felt good.

  The referee launched a new nut. Blu joined the others in diving for it, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

  Blue macaws passed the pod back and forth over Blu’s head. “I’m open! I’m open! Toss it to me! Pass to me, I’m open!” he screamed. “Pass the ball to me!”

  Roberto kicked the ball to Blu. But it bounced off his face—and into the talons of a red macaw, who scored. Now it was 2 to 2.

  When the next nut was launched, all the birds raced for it.

  “Go get it, Dad!” Tiago shouted.

  “One more, Blu!” Rafael urged.

  “Come on, Blu,” Jewel called out. Just before the pod hit the water, Blu grabbed it. He zipped along the water, dodging jumping piranhas who were snapping at the nut.

  “Blu! Blu! Blu!” his friends were chanting. He did some fancy footwork and the crowd went even wilder.

  “Pass the ball!” Eduardo bellowed. “Pass the ball!”

  Instead, Blu kicked the nut around with some awesome moves, dodging red macaws flying at him from every direction. Feeling confident, he flew past Eduardo.

  “Pass the ball!” Eduardo screamed again.

  Wham! Two red macaws smacked into Blu, spinning him around. When he righted himself, he flew back in the other direction.

  Blu got closer to the goal. This was it. He did a bicycle kick. A red macaw flew out of his way, revealing the blue macaw goalie trying to wave him off. But it was too late. The nut was flying into the goal.

  Blu threw his wings up in victory. But the crowd was silent. No one was cheering with him. The ref threw a red berry on the scoreboard. Blu’s wings dropped. Blu had scored a goal . . . for the other team.

  As the blue macaws gave Blu dirty looks, the red macaws laughed and cheered.

  “Thanks for the goal, Blu,” Felipe said, patting him on the back. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Oh, and Eduardo?” Felipe said as the elder bird flew over, obviously annoyed. “From now on, stay out of our grove.” He flew off with the laughing red macaws.

  Eduardo gave Blu a dark look. “I shouldn’t have expected more from a human’s pet.”

  Blu looked into the crowd. It was a sea of disappointment. Blu had let everyone—especially his family—down.

  Chapter 12

  A short while later, Blu sat glumly on a branch. He hung his head when Jewel approached.

  “Hey, it’ll be all right,” Jewel said softly.

  “I think it’s time we headed home,” Blu said morosely.

  “The kids are thriving,” Jewel told him. “They love being in the wild.”

  “What are you saying?” Blu asked.

  Jewel didn’t say anything at first. “Blu, maybe this place is home.”

  “What?” Blu blurted out. “We already have a great home in Rio!”

  “I know it hasn’t been easy for you to adjust here—” Jewel began.

  “I’ve been trying so hard, Jewel, but I don’t belong in the jungle. I can’t do this anymore.” He could feel his heart beating double-time.

  Jewel took a breath. “Maybe you just need to give it more time. Daddy and Roberto can help you—”

  “Roberto!” Blu was fed up. “Enough with this guy! Oh, and P.S., your father hates me! Trust me, your family would be very happy if I left.”

  Jewel was stung. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. My family is your family.”

  “Your dad doesn’t even know who I am,” Blu snapped. “Stu, Drew, Lou, or Sue, I’ll never be ‘the bird,’ like Roberto!”

  “Oh, I see what this is about,” Jewel bit back. “Maybe you need to open your eyes and think about us instead of just yourself. “ She stormed off.

  Linda and Tulio were on a mission as they moved quickly through the jungle. “We still don’t have any proof of the macaws,” Tulio said.

  Linda nodded. “I don’t know how we’re going to figure out—”

  “Going somewhere?” A group of loggers stepped out of the jungle in front of them. They were surrounded. The foreman waited for an answer to his question.

  “Yeah, uhhh, we’re just, umm, trying to catch our tour to go zip-lining. Whee! Have you ever tried it?”

  A man in a white suit stepped forward. “Your tour is over. Welcome to ours.”

  Blu flew to Linda and Tulio’s camp, noticing the crates that were marked for Tulio’s conservatory. “Linda! Tulio!” But they were nowhere to be found. What he did find, though, were all the creature comforts of home that he’d been missing. Like food you didn’t have to hunt for.

  “Oh, I miss this,” Blu said, looking around. He spotted a small framed photo on a side table. It was of Jewel, Blu, and the kids perched near Linda and Tulio back in Rio.

  Blu felt tears forming. His shoulders sagged. He’d been a fool.

  Leaves rustled nearby. “Linda?” Blu called hopefully. He pulled himself together and took off toward the village. Suddenly he was tackled out of the air. He landed hard on the ground. Roberto stood over him. He looked disgusted.

  “Eduardo was right! Traitor! You are not to be trusted! Human sympathizer! Everything you have—and you do this.”

  Blu gaped at him. “What are you talking about? You’re the one who’s Mr. Perfect. Perfect voice, perfect dance moves, perfect wingspan.”

  Roberto pushed the words aside. “All meaningless. You have the real treasure—a family. What I wouldn’t give to be you. Only I’m not a traitor! Throwing it all away for a Linda!”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait! You don’t understand!” Blu said hotly.

  “There are no good humans!” Roberto shouted. “They lure you in! They trap you!” Roberto lifted up some feathers on his leg, revealing a small metal band. “They did this!”

  Blu looked at him, stunned.

  “Next thing you know, you’re in a cage, walking up and down a tiny ladder. They destroy your mind!” Roberto was out of control. “Polly want a cracker? Polly want a cracker? Polly want a cracker? No! Enough crackers! I hate crackers!”

  He was still ranting when a huge logging harvester crashed through the dense underbrush, heading right at them.

  “It’s them! It’s them!” Roberto shrieked, frozen in place in full-on panic mode.

  The harvester made a horrible, deafening
noise as it barreled toward the birds. Without taking time to think, Blu flew into Roberto, pushing him out of the way and saving his life.

  “C’mon! Roberto!” he yelled as the harvester destroyed the camp, crushing everything in its path. He and Roberto flew out of the way and landed on a high branch.

  Roberto was hyperventilating. “Not again. Not again! No more crackers!”

  Blu slapped him hard. “Snap out of it!” he commanded, shocked to see Mr. Perfect turn into a blubbering mess.

  Below them the harvester continued to grind away. “Look, we’ve got one chance to stop this, okay?” Blu said. “I have to find my friends. You fly back and warn the others. Got it?”

  “Yeah, I got it,” Roberto said, pulling himself together.

  Blu nodded. “Okay. Go!” And the two birds flew off in opposite directions.

  Eduardo and Aunt Mimi were deep in conversation. “You could talk to Felipe, work something—”

  “Never. He’s not a guy that wants to listen to reason,” Eduardo told her.

  “Felipe’s not the only one,” Aunt Mimi said knowingly.

  Eduardo gritted his beak. “Everything had been going perfectly until that . . . that dimwit—” He stopped. Jewel was standing right in front of him.

  “Daddy—”

  Roberto flew up to them. “Humans! Loggers! The lights! The lights!” He gasped, spinning in circles.

  Eduardo slapped him across the face. “Get ahold of yourself!”

  Roberto took a steadying breath. “The loggers are coming and Blu is with them.”

  This was too much for Eduardo. “Traitor! I knew you couldn’t trust a bird raised by humans.”

  “No, no, no!” Roberto corrected. “Blu is trying to help us!”

  Jewel gasped. “What? By himself?”

  Explosions boomed off in the distance. Jewel knew what this meant: the loggers were getting closer. The other macaws began to cry out in fear as smoke rose on the horizon.

  “Okay, pack up the kids, we’re leaving,” Eduardo announced firmly. “Let’s go! Everyone move out! Go, go!”

  Jewel hesitated, searching for the right words. “Dad! Dad . . . I’m not going with you.”