Rio: Endangered

The Final Fight

Absolute silence -- aside from the occasional chirp of some crickets -- surrounded Blu late in the afternoon as he cleaned up on the shore of the river. The processes of elimination were racing through his mind. Who could have been so naive to do THIS to us? That was the only question he had. Nigel was taken to Rio, and Terrin, as far as I am concerned, was...

WHAM! Blu was slammed so hard into the ground that all of his senses were thrown off balance. "Well, well, well. Look who we have here."

An all too familiar voice. Who? Blu's vision cleared slowly and in time to see Terrin's face right up in his. "T... Terrin?"

"And company," Nigel finished.

"You always finish things perfectly, Nigel," Gabi complimented. "This bird being the exception."

"This bird is mine to finish, Nigel. He has done more than his share of hurt to me," Terrin ordered.

"We both have a score..."

"You... guys are forgetting that I can hear you," Blu interrupted.

"Not for long, blue bird!" Terrin shouted in Blu's face. His grip grew tighter around Blu's neck, restricting air flow.

"Guys... can we... (cough) talk... this out?" Blu gasped.

"Talking is out of the question. Time to finish old tasks," Nigel answered.

A blur of blue feathers dropped onto Terrin, throwing him across the clearing. Blu gasped for air as he looked at Roberto. The kids landed around Blu and gave him great big hugs.

"I'm fine, kids. Go home," he told them. "This isn't your fight."

Bia looked straight at Gabi. "I don't know. I figure she's about my size, maybe Carla's. I want a chunk of that poisonous frog."

Gabi looked at Bia straight in the eyes. "Says the bird who, once upon a time, told me I wasn't."

"Like daughter, like parents," Carla retorted.

Tiago only stuck his tongue out at her.

"Blu, you handle Terrin," Roberto ordered. "I've got this flightless freak."

"Round two, you Blue menace!" Terrin shouted as he bolted straight for Blu's head.

Blu simply moved aside, forcing Terrin to fly straight into the tree behind Blu. While Terrin was disoriented, Blu grabbed his feet and slammed him into the ground. Getting a choke-hold on Terrin, Blu leaned in and warned, "I am going to make this hurt for what you've done to Jewel." Blu bolted straight into the sky, a limp Terrin dangling in his talons.

Finding a nearby tree, Blu slammed Terrin on its highest branch and pinned him to it. He eyed Terrin's wing for a second, before reaching for it and saying, "This is for what happened to Jewel in Rio." Then he broke Terrin's wing.

"AHHH!!!" Terrin screamed

"Blu, what are you doing?" Jasmine asked, from the end of the branch.

"He deserves the pain that's coming to him." Blu broke his other wing.

"Blu, stop. It's not worth it!"

Blu ignored his sister's desperate pleas. He grabbed a vine dangling nearby, tied Terrin to the branch, and flew to the base of the tree. He reached into his pack and pulled out matches.

"Blu, stop!" It was Roberto this time.

"Why should I? He killed Jewel."

"It doesn't justify killing him, Blu. Come on, bird. That's not the Blu I know."

"Listen to him, Blu," Jasmine continued pleading.

Blu struck the match, having every intention of igniting the tree.

"If you light that tree, it makes you no better than him. It'll make you a killer, and you're no killer."

The match got closer to the base of the tree. Blu wanted revenge for Jewel's death, but second thoughts were running through his head. He extinguished the match. "No, I am not a killer. I have a better idea," Blu responded. He flew back to Terrin and knocked him out.