Chapter 21: The Search

Alex walked over to a white feather on the ground and picked it up. He examined it carefully. It was ruffled and looked dirty. "Nenhuma dúvida sobre isso... This belongs to Nigel."

"Yes, if I remember correctly, he leaves a trail of his rotten feathers wherever he goes. Disgusting fellow," Paul snickered.

"Well, we could try to find the rest of the feathers, they may lead us to him," Blu suggested.

"A clever plan, but beware. Não subestime sua inteligência. He should be aware of the fact that he leaves a trace of his presence behind, and is more than capable of setting up a trap or ambush. Do not let your guard down," Alex said sternly.

Blu, Jewel and Paul nodded in unison. The team of four birds flew out of the sanctuary.

"There." Alex saw another one of Nigel's feathers on the road and flew towards it with the other three birds following him.

...

After a while more of following Nigel's feathers, the team found themselves in a small and abandoned alleyway. The trail seemed to end there.

"He didn't escape very long ago. There's a chance he might still be here," Alex said, shifting his vision around, in search of a cockatoo.

All of a sudden, a marmoset jumped off a rooftop and pounced onto Paul.

"You picked a bad target, fool!" Paul grabbed the monkey by its face and threw him off. The marmoset fell off Paul and scrambled back onto his feet.

"Get them!" At the sound of that voice, a huge group of marmosets came pouring out of the old buildings.

"I knew it!" Alex turned to face the swarm of monkeys.

"I still remember how to fight!" Jewel said confidently.

Paul charged into the swarm of marmosets, swiftly dodging all their blows and countering with attacks of his own. Alex landed in the middle of a group of marmosets and started to attack as well.

Blu shuddered a bit in fear. Such a vast number of enemies... I don't know if I can handle them! he thought. "Come on, Blu, let's help out, too!" Jewel's voice jolted him out of his thoughts. Blu and Jewel put their backs against each others' and started to fend off incoming marmosets from their respective sides. Blu tried to recall how he had fought during that time he was with Paul, and started to move away from Jewel to fight on his own.

As Blu knocked out more and more marmosets one by one, he started to smile. At this rate... I think I can take these guys out... it might be possibl- Blu choked as he felt something get wrapped around his neck. He looked up and saw a chain of marmosets hanging from the rooftop of a building he was standing next to, with the bottommost marmoset strangling him with his tail.

"Ack! Help!" Blu managed to say. Alex turned to face him. "Ay, caramba," he muttered to himself. He flew swiftly up to the roof of the building. The marmoset that was holding the others up was none other that King Mauro. He was easily recognizable by his brown fur and stolen jewelry that he liked to wear.

"We're not interested in you, old man!" Mauro said. Another marmoset grabbed onto the tail of the marmoset chain, which allowed Mauro's arms to be free.

"I won't let you have them!" Alex's piercing eyes struck fear into Mauro's heart. The marmoset king tried to strike a blow at Alex, but his fist was caught in the air before it could it. Alex glared at Mauro menacingly, threatening to crush his fist.

"Where is he?" Alex questioned harshly.

"I ain't telling you nothi-AAAH!" Mauro shrieked in pain as Alex applied pressure to his talons and squeezed onto Mauro's hand. Alex quickly grabbed Mauro by his throat and put a talon to his neck. He dragged him over to the edge of the rooftop.

"Listen up! If you all don't disappear from my sight within the count of five, he dies!" Alex shouted at the remaining marmosets that had not been incapacitated. "Five!" Alex started to count down. The marmosets squealed in fear of losing their leader and quickly dispersed from the alleyway. The chain of marmosets that were holding Blu collapsed and scurried away.

Alex put his talon away from Mauro's neck but did not release his grip on his throat.

"Follow me." He carried the monkey king and took to the skies. The three other birds followed suit.

...

Mauro dug at the ground lethargically. He looked at his dirty and worn out paws, then looked at his surroundings. He recognized the part of the forest he was in very well. It was the place where all the predators usually resided at, and was essentially the most dangerous part of the forest to be at. "Don't stop digging." As he heard those words, he forced himself to continue to claw at the ground.

"Where's Nigel?" Alex asked, leaning against a tree and chewing on a peach. Blu, Jewel and Paul were next to him, resting from the big fight they just had.

"I really can't tell you, please, you've got to understand!" Mauro begged.

"Where's Nigel?" Alex repeated himself, sounding more stern each time he did so. He took another bite out of the peach he was holding.

"He'll kill me if I tell you! Please!" Mauro replied.

"I'll kill you if you don't," Alex answered.

Mauro sighed and looked at the ground.

"Last time. Where is Nigel?" Alex finished eating the peach and stopped leaning against the tree. He slowly walked towards Mauro, with his blood-red eyes staring straight at him.

Mauro burst into tears. "Alright! Alright! I'll tell you! Please don't hurt me! He was taking those eggs back to the smuggler's den, the quiet part of town where his masters used to stay at!"

Alex stood still. "Go on."

"I swear, that's all he told me! Please!" Mauro begged for mercy.

"You can stop digging now."

"Finally! Thank-" Mauro got cut off.

"Start walking."

Mauro started walking away from Alex. "Please! If you want to kill me, at least make it quick! I don't wanna suffer!" he started to sob.

Alex turned around and started to walk away. Mauro turned back and saw this. "Ha! I knew you couldn't do it! You act all tough on the outside, but you don't have the guts to actually do anything! You old, black chicken!"

"Let's go." Alex ignored Mauro and took off together with Blu, Jewel and Paul.

"Wait, wait wait! Come back! I take it back! I didn't mean any of it! Oh man! You're my only ride out of this place! Please, don't let me get eaten!" By the time Mauro finished his sentence, the four birds were no where to be seen.

...

"Wow. Can you believe that guy? A full grown adult monkey, crying and begging like that? You ask me, he deserved to die. Why didn't you just end him?" Paul asked Alex.

"Not worth it," Alex gave a simple response. He turned to look at Blu and Jewel. "He said Nigel was bringing your eggs to some kind of smuggler's den, any idea where that may be?"

"Well, we've been held captive there before," Blu said.

"And I think I can remember how to get back there," Jewel added, taking the lead. "Follow me!"

A.N: I don't think Roarrk is free enough to beta my chapters anymore, so you'll probably notice a drop in the quality of my writing, since I haven't written in such a long time. Tell me how garbage I was in the reviews :D

P.S. Did you get the reference I used in this chapter? It was a pretty big one :D