HELLO, HELLO, HELLO!
To start off, my fine readers, THIS IS THE REAL DEAL. The biggest thing I've ever done, as well as Project NICK, is making this story.
To fill you in if the summary got you interested:
This story is a crossover between my acclaimed stories "The Big Scoop" and "Headlines" with the also-acclaimed fics "Lost in Paradise" and "Love Trip" by Project NICK. This story will cross over our storylines, as well as our Original Characters featured in them (Arthur, Wally, Bobby, Robyn, Flora, etc.). We've been planning this story for about 2 months now, every minute more ideas sprouting and more development popping up. Simply put, the aim of this story by me and Project NICK is to make this THE BIGGEST Rio fanfic, on scale, emotion, and overall quality. In general, we want this to be one of the best Rio fics ever, because our aim is to entertain you, to make you laugh, to make you feel emotion. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the story!
...
Rio: Fear and Feathers in Las Vegas
Chapter 1
Here We Go Again
On a warm and beautiful day, in the majestic and breathtaking place known as Niagara Falls, two Spix Macaws were watching humans gaze upon the waterfalls, and seeing fellow birds soar everywhere.
"This place is just so amazing," said Jewel, the free-spirited Macaw. "I almost don't want to go back home..."
Blu, her mate, and the more clumsy yet intelligent Macaw, put a wing around her. "Yeah, I know... but our kids are waiting for us back home, and you can't replace that kind of affection..."
Jewel sighed, and said, "I know, I know..."
Then, she had a seductive smile on her face, and began to nuzzle her beak against Blu's chest. "Remember our life before we had the kids?"
"You mean with me in Minnesota, and you in Tulio's aviary?" guessed Blu, confused.
Jewel smirked, and said, "No, silly... our life 'after' we met, and 'before' we had the kids..."
"After?" Blu frowned in confusion, but when Jewel came closer to him, he began to feel a little hot, and he soon realized what she mean
she meant.
"Oh... uh, now?"
Jewel nodded her head, and Blu gulped. "Uh... yeah, okay... sure, let's go."
So, the two love hawks began to kiss each other passionately... but just before their beaks touched, a friend of theirs popped out of nowhere, behind Blu, and he cried, "Morning, sleeping beauty!"
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" screamed Blu, jumping into Jewel's wings. "Arthur?"
Arthur, their reporter-bird and Spix Macaw friend, laughed, and said, "Boy, I was wondering when you were going to wake up!"
Blu noticed that Jewel was giving Arthur a death look, so in order for him to not get hurt, he said, "Good morning, Arthur. Did you sleep well?"
"Aw, man, I slept like an angel," replied Arthur, putting his wing around his friend. "It felt like I was in Heaven!"
"Keep talking," grumbled Jewel. "And you'll end up going to Heaven..."
"I beg your pardon, m'am?" said Arthur with a dopey smile, who didn't fully hear Blu's mate.
"Uh..." Jewel put on a smile. "I said that why don't you and Blu keep talking, and spend some 'guy' time together?"
Arthur's eyes instantly lit up. "Sure, that's a great idea! Come on, Blu, let's..."
Before the energetic bird could continue, another visitor came into the nest that Blu and Jewel had found. "Well, it looks like you two seem ready for the day... oh, hi, Arthur."
Arthur turned to see who had come, and when she saw it was Jez, another Spix Macaw (and Blu's long-lost sister), a song began to play in his head.
I've been waiting for a girl like you to come into my life
I've been waiting for a girl like you, your loving will survive
I've been waiting for someone new to make me feel alive
Yeah, waiting for a girl like you to come into my life
"Arthur?" Blu whistled in his friend's ear, and he snapped out of his trance. "She just told you hello."
"Oh, uh..." Arthur chuckled nervously. "Good-good morning... er... J-Jessie... no, uh, wait... hi, Jez. Did you sleep great?"
Jez was about to answer, but then, everyone heard another male bird cry out, "Yo, Jez! Come here!"
"Who is that?" asked Blu, and (to his surprise) Arthur.
"It's just a friend," answered Jez. "He gets stuck in a bush almost every other day. Oh, well... see you three later!"
After giving Blu a warm hug (with Arthur frowning in confusion), she flew away, and both Blu and Jewel turned to Arthur, with their eyebrow raised, and the reporter bird said, "Why are you two looking at me like that?"
"Don't give me that," replied Jewel. "You're in love with her, Arthur, admit it."
"Me?" Arthur began to back away. "No, no way... uh, I think I hear Wally and Bobby calling me. I'm coming, guys!"
He flew away, and Jewel turned to look at Blu, who said, "What?"
"He's your friend, Blu," said Jewel. "Go and talk to him."
"Why me?" replied Blu. "I mean, he's your friend, too..."
Jewel frowned, and said, "Because, honey, part of me is still mad at him for kissing me at the club, and for coming here, thanks to Rafael, whom I will deal with once we go home... so, if you want to keep Arthur safe, go talk to him."
Blu sighed, knowing that she had won, even though he 'did' want Arthur safe from her, so in a few seconds, Blu was flying after Arthur. "Wait up!"
When he finally caught up to Arthur, who was on the flag pole of the Maid of the Mist boat, Blu said, "Phew, wow, you're fast... look, buddy, I know you like Jez... don't give me that look, pal, it's true... just let me tell you something about her."
"Hold it, buddy," said Arthur, putting a wing to Blu's beak. "Why did you two, uh, hug like that? Are you..."
"No, no, no, no, no," replied Blu, laughing. "I already got in trouble with that... no, it's because Jez and I are..."
"Hey!" Before he could finish, the captain of the boat raced over to the pole. "No birds on this boat during this time... shoo, shoo!"
"Whoo, Captain Hook woke up on the wrong side of the bed!" Arthur sqwuaked out with a laugh.
Not wanting to cause trouble, Blu and Arthur flew away, heading back to their friends, and on the way, Blu said, "Where was I? Oh, yeah, look, man, Jez is my..."
"Uno momento, my azul amigo," said Arthur. "I'm gonna try to talk to her again."
As Blu watched his friend go over to Jez's nest, the young Macaw groaned. "Do I have to do everything myself?"
A few minutes later, Blu was flying over to Jewel, in their nest, but he soon noticed that she looked much happier than she did before.
"Uh, why the sudden happiness?" asked Blu.
Jewel pointed down below, and the young Macaw saw that Arthur was talking to Jez, but he also noticed that Pedro and Robyn were hiding nearby.
Rolling his eyes, Blu flew over to the cardinal couple, and whispered, "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it was rude to eavesdrop, Pedro?"
The cardinal whispered, "It's not like that, Blu... I'm just trying to enjoy my time here."
"Uh-huh," said Blu. "Robyn, what's your ex... uh, I mean, your reason?"
Pedro's counterpart and wife whispered, "I'm not even listening... the only reason I'm here is because Mr. Peeping Tom over here wouldn't let me finish my beauty sleep."
"You're already the most beautiful bird I know," said Pedro. "Don't have me become obsessed over you..."
Not wanting to hear the cardinals "love talk", Blu flew over a little closer to Arthur and Jez, who said, "So, how long have you known Blu?"
"For almost three years now, I think," replied Arthur. "We... m-met a few days after he and Jewel fell in love, and we grew closer after he tried to save me from an evil bird."
"Nigel?" said Jez. "Blu told me about him..."
Arthur chuckled, and said, "No, this guy was a lot more worse than the cockatoo. Oh, and one time, when I was at a camp..."
"Whoa, that just reminded me of something!" exclaimed Jez. "I wanted to show you guys this really cool place that I found."
"I'll be the judge of that," replied Pedro, who came out in the open, followed by Robyn.
Arthur tried to speak, but very quickly, Jez was flying away, leading Jewel, Robyn, and Pedro away from the Falls, and after Blu went next to him, he sighed, and asked, "Blu, why is it so hard to talk to a pretty girl like Jez?"
Blu chuckled, and said, "I asked myself the same thing when I first met Jewel. Come on, buddy, let's go see what Jez meant by a real cool place."
Arthur sighed thoughtfully, knowing the charm he had wasn't going to go to waste. After all, he didn't get Petricious from good looks, that's for sure...
...
"Hey Bobby, you find Arthur yet?"
Bobby and Wally were currently busy scouting out the forest, searching for their Spix macaw friend.
"Not yet, man. Maybe he's with Blu and Jewel? They're family after all." Bobby reasoned as he poked his head into a tree and was quickly smacked out by a lady woodpecker who began to chirp angrily at the pigeon invading her privacy.
"Man, you ain't got any luck with the ladies, huh?" Wally chuckled as he stared at his dazed friend who was lying on the ground. Bobby smirked sarcastically and then got up, looking around once more. Wally walked forward into a patch of bushes, and then suddenly spotted a sight that caught him off guard.
"Hey Bobby, come look at this..."
...
As Arthur and Blu slowly flew behind the rest of the birds, Arthur continued to think of a way to charm his new piece of affection. Arthur, however, couldn't think straight with the beauty he had seen. He'd never seen another female Spix macaw as beautiful as this one..Jez, was it? Those eyes...Those deep, violet eyes that just pierced through his soul like the greatest stars in the skys...shining like diamonds...
"Artie?"
...her voice was like silk...
"Artie?"
...Such beauty...Such grace in a bird...
"ARTIE!"
Arthur suddenly snapped back to reality after Blu had been yelling to him for the past minute. Arthur blinked confusingly, and then stared happily at Blu.
"What is it, Blu boy?" Arthur asked, his voice nonchalant, trying to cover his romantic thinking. Blu hesitated, and was about to speak again, when the group suddenly stopped.
"Here it is!" Jez said with a smile, pointing to a clearing that was filled with different tents, tables, equipment and a pickup truck sitting behind the equipment. All the birds slowly paced forward cautiously, not knowing what exactly any of the things were. Suddenly, a white figure came firing towards the group of birds and then smacked into the ground in front of them, all of them scampering off to hide from the strange thing that had crashed in front of them. Arthur ran over, and suddenly recognized it...It was Wally...And his head was a skeleton. Arthur's eyes shot open, and he suddenly screamed loudly.
"NO WALLY! WE WERE TOO LATE! WHY MUST THE GOOD DIE YOUNG?" Arthu screamed, running in circles as the seagull looked up at the Spix macaw quizzingly. Blu then grabbed the panicing macaw and then stopped his running.
"Check it out, I'm dead from the neck up!" Wally chuckled as walked towards the birds. The seagull was apparently wearing a perfect replica of a bird skull on his head. Arthur laughed slowly, feeling both embarassment and panic in his mind.
"Sorry...Guess vision went before thought..." Arthur said with a weak laugh. Arthur glanced nervously at Jez, who giggled lightly at him. Arthur could almost feel the red burn of a blush coming through his feathers, but he ignored it.
"Should we really be here, Jez? I mean, this place doesn't exactly look bird friendly..." Blu said as his voice trailed off when Wally looked at him with his skull 'cap' on his head.
"You kiddin'? I love this place!" Bobby exclaimed as he stood on a stack of plates a few feet away. The pigeon then slipped, which caused a plate to fire off like a rocket and smash into a nearby tree. Arthur suddenly noticed Jez flying up to a nearby table, which seemed to have an old-fashioned typewriter propped on it. Arthur smiled brightly and confidentally, knowing this was a perfect oppurtunity to put the moves on. Arthur flew up to the table and was about to speak, when Jez turned back around at the reporter bird, who smiled brightly in return.
"Do you know what this is?" asked Jez. Arthur looked at the machine, and nodded his head.
"Of course I do... my, uh, former owner was on this for most of his life. Watch this!" Using his claws, Arthur began to type random letters until the machine made a ding noise.
"Huh..." chuckled Arthur. "I like the sound of that!" The Macaw did it again, but then, Bobby accidentally broke a plate from the huge pile he stood on.
"Oh, my bad, you guys," said the Bobby, but to Arthur, it was the beginning of a jazzy beat.
"No man, keep that up! I'm liking this!" Arthur exclaimed with a wide smile.
When he typed again, Bobby smashed another plate, and then, Pedro ripped a page from a book.
"Honey, please," said Robyn. "Can you control yourself?"
"No, hey, relax, babe," cried Arthur. "I'm on a roll here!"
"BABE?" Robyn huffed, and began to walk toward him, but Jewel stopped her.
"Save the anger for Rafael," said Blu's mate. "Trust me..." As Arthur, Nico, and Pedro continued their acts, with Wally tossing things around and beating on objects with rhythm, Blu cried, "Hey, Arthur, I forgot to say that-"
However, a kid-sized trumpet flew toward him, but luckily, he caught it, and when Blu played a note, Arthur said, "Oh, yeah!" The former reporter-bird typed on the machine, Bobby broke a plate, along with Pedro ripping a page and the seagull making noise, and then, Arthur cried, "Come on, Blu! Kick it up a notch!"
Blu began to play the trumpet, with a smile, and while typing, Arthur said, "Ding! I love that part... come on, Jewel, sing us a little something!" As Blu played the musical instrument some more, Jewel began to ad-lib a jazzy tune.
"Shabadoo, labadoo, debadiao, lebada, dabida!"
"Man, this is the most fun I've had in ages!" Wally laughed as he started to slam on numerous pans around him, when a flying plate smashed into his head and smashed the skull off his head. Wally blinked his eyes in a daze and then laughed in unrealized pain.
"Ouch..."
While playing, Blu thought, "Hmmm... why do I feel like I've heard this before?"
Soon, everyone began to play to the new song, and the singers were Jewel, Arthur, Nico, and Pedro.
"Doo, bop, shidoooo, whoo!"
However, none of them noticed a rustling in the bushes. After the instrumental break, Blu handed the trumpet to Arthur, and began to sing, as well.
"Shabadoo, labadoo, debada, labida!"
Arthur blew on the trumpet, and Jewel sang along with Blu.
"Doo, bop, sheedoo!"
"Shabadoo, labadoo, dabadoo, debada, ladida!" Arthur played again, and he smiled when Jez made a face that meant she was impressed.
"Wow, where'd you learn to play so well?" Jez asked with a smile that made Arthur know he was winning over the lady Macaw.
"Easy! Mr. Jenkin's smooth Jazz always helped me!" Arthur laughed as he continued to rip out note after note on the trumpet while the continuing madness around him was creating an overall jazz-sound while Jewel and Blu continued to sing.
"Shoobadoo, daboo, dabba dabba dee da!"
"Doo bop shee doo!"
"WHOO!"
Unknown to everyone, Wally suddenly disappeared into the bushes without any trace left of him. Finally, the music died down, all except for Arthur who continued to play the trumpet until his last breath gave out. Jez was actually impressed at the reporter-bird that had seemed so energetic and outgoing, and was about to speak when a huge figure suddenly smashed into Arthur and sent him flying about 10 feet away. Jez jumped back in shock at the sudden appearance of the huge, white bird standing in front of her.
"Hey! What's your problem?" Jez sqwuaked angrily, pacing over to the bird, before he raised his head and revealed himself to be...The cockatoo we all know as Nigel.
"Oh nothing, Pretty Bird. I was just about to throw you into your new home..." Nigel chuckled as Blu suddenly noticed the cockatoo and his eyes shot open as he noticed Jez in his sights.
"Jez, run!" Blu yelled, waving his wings and running rapidly towards his sister. Before Blu could reach the cockatoo, a cage suddenly landed on top Blu, imprisoning him like a set of prison bars to an inmate.
"What the...Jez?" Arthur said in a daze, suddenly spotting Nigel grabbing the other Spix macaw.
"Arthur!" Jez yelled out to the reporter-bird, suddenly making him feel determined to KO the cockatoo. Arthur quickly bolted after the cockatoo and Jez, but suddenly he felt a hard force land on his head like a rock and his whole head began to feel fuzzy, until he finally became unconscious.
...
"Stop shakin' around, you bag of feathers!"
Unknown to the birds, it had turned out that the ones that had captured the birds were a group of smugglers, only they were much different than the smugglers Blu had been captured by in Rio. These men seemed more professional, with more elite-lookin equipment, better-looking and less run-down looking.
"Hey boss, how much do you think a Spix macaw will go for nowadays?" The skinnest of the three smugglers asked as he poked his finger inside the cage where he had caught the Spix, when a loud sqwuak yelled out and a snap echoed, and the man quickly pulled his hand back in pain, a stream of crimson leaking out.
"Ow! The thing bit me!" The man yelled out, inspecting his wounded finger as a tubby-looking man next to him with a bag carrying another Spix macaw laughed.
"Don't touch the merchandise, man!" The man laughed as he carried off the bag carrying the bird, when he suddenly noticed a cockatoo tossing yet another two Spix macaws into a cage. The tubby smuggler walked over with a confused expression, his eyes focusing on the cockatoo, who almost looked like he was...smiling at the two men.
"Hey dude, this cockatoo is helpin' us..." The tubby smuggler said as he walked closer as he eyed the two Spix macaws greedily, knowing all this catch would likely buy them ten mansions, rather than just one. However, this cockatoo just seemed abnormal with how he seemed to be helping their catch.
"Larry...What kinda stuff did you buy from that guy in Reno?" The skinny smuggler asked, his face carved with befuddlement as he carried over the cage with the now-terrified looking Spix macaw.
"No, really! He just tossed those two macaws in that cage. I think he's tryin' to help us!" Larry exclaimed, walking closer to the cockatoo, who now seemed to have an annoyed expression on his beaked-face. The other man rolled his eyes and then walked over and picked up the cage that held the two Spix macaws that the cockatoo had tossed inside, both of them seeming to panic at the movement of the cage.
"It doesn't matter...All I know is, we've got 4 of the rarest macaws in the world, and we're going to have ALL the money we could ever dream of..." The skinny man said with a gleam in his eye as he spoke greedily and stared off into the sky, to which Larry followed as well.
"...What are we looking at?"
"Just load the truck, you moron. We're leaving with these birds back to McClaran tonight..."
...
A/N: This chapter is somewhat experimental, as you can see me and Project NICK crossed our writing styles quite a bit in this fic. All I ask is for any constructive criticsim, good or bad. I want to honestly hear what you think. As I stated before, I aim to please when I make fan-fiction, and I'm sure Project NICK feels the same. All I ask is for reviews, and we'll continue to provide!
READ, COMMENT, REVIEW!