Hi, everyone. VPVPVP here once again for the sequel to Jupiter and company's adventure in the Amazon rainforest and the third instalment of my Rio fanfiction series. Now our feathered friends Blu and Jewel and their chicks Carla, Bia and Tiago, together with Mercury the Lear's macaw, Venus the Spix macaw, Mars the green-winged macaw, Jupiter the scarlet macaw, Saturn the blue-and-gold macaw, Uranus the great green macaw, Neptune the hyacinth macaw, Pluto the glaucous macaw and Ceres the blue-throated macaw and all their mates and chicks, and Travis the sulfur-crested cockatoo and his Major Mitchell's mate Sunset and their three chicks all return to Rio for the summer.

However, they are about to face the return of Blu and Jewel's nemesis, Nigel the cockatoo, who has come back once again for revenge on the famous Spix macaw family for the loss of his ability to fly and the humiliation that followed, and in this story, Jupiter and company will actually meet the deranged cockatoo for the first time, but the shock will be even greater for Mercury and Venus as Nigel had participated in their smuggling out of Brazil when they were chicks and had brutally killed their parents as well as cause the two poor macaws great trauma during their transport. We will find out how Mercury and Venus had been traumatised by Nigel later. As you will have read in my previous two stories, poor Venus went through a lot especially in the Amazon Adventure with the fire and the brief encounter with some of the flying foxes from Cicatriz's colony, all on one night, but she is about to go through another nightmarish storm when she comes face to face with the cockatoo that had traumatised her and Mercury when they were chicks.

And that's not all. A group of poachers, having found out about the Sanctuary de Amazon and why it had been set up, are planning on entering the Sanctuary under the guise of ornithologists to illegally steal macaws, especially from the Spix, the Lear's and the glaucous macaw flocks, for the pet trade, and their poachers' disguise is so convincing that even Tulio and his team think they are genuine ornithologists. It will be up to Blu, Jewel, Jupiter and their friends including Dash, Veggie and their mates Ginger and Catina and puppies and kittens (now grown up cats), with the help of Nigel's three estranged children to blow away the poachers' disguise and reveal them before they succeed in capturing a lot of the macaws and escaping, while also dealing with the evil Nigel who plans on ruining Blu and his family's life and tearing their world apart in his revenge, and causing Jupiter and his group, especially Mercury and Venus, an awful lot of misery and terror, while the cats, among them Moggy, Otis and Hopper, plan on getting revenge on Catina after what happened to Brutus and their former owners in Rio 1 and a Half.

I have decided to add to the summary here due to the limited number of characters you could have on the story's summary as seen on the list of stories of the Rio Fanfiction Archive. Alright, then. Let's go.

Chapter 1- Blu, Jupiter and company's return to Rio

It was morning in Rio de Janeiro, the sun rising from beneath the horizon and allowing its bright light to chase away the darkness of the night, as well as smother the light from the more distant stars. As the sun rose into the sky, the citizens of Rio and the diurnal animals of the Blu Bird Sanctuary rose with it. On Copacabana Beach, security guards and patrollers took up their positions prepared for any action in case any crime was carried out on the tourists, while in the buildings, the activity was increasing. At the moment there were a few cars and other vehicles driving back and forth on the road and there were only a few pedestrians moving from place to place on the footpaths or sidewalks, but as the morning progresses, that will increase and soon the roads will be swamped with vehicles and the paths will become flooded with more pedestrians going to work or taking their kids to school. In one house, two women had woken up. Susan and Lucy were preparing for another work day at Tulio's Aviary and had just had their morning shower. Now they were preparing for breakfast and Bible study, but they also had a family of cats and greyhounds to feed as well. While Susan and Lucy did their morning routine, in the cat and dogs' beds, a male light grey greyhound woke up, yawned and stretched his front legs. Beside him was his mate, a female ginger-coloured greyhound. Dash then crept out of his and Ginger's bed to stretch his back legs. After shaking himself awake, Dash turned to his water bowl to have a drink when Ginger woke up. Ginger also yawned and stretched her front legs before turning to Dash.

"Morning, my darling hound," she crooned lovingly. Dash looked up and walked over to her. He then lovingly nuzzled his head against Ginger's.

"Morning, Ginge," he said. Then as the couple broke away, Veggie the tabby cat and Catina the calico both woke up in their bed.

"Morning, you two," said Dash with a smile as the cat couple rose their heads. Next to Veggie and Catina, in a separate bed, Veggie and Catina's four kittens, or rather, former kittens, Broccoli, Collette, Daisy and Thomas were still asleep, as were Dash and Ginger's five puppies, Eduarda, Esperanza, Avellana, Danny and James, who slept in another bed next to Dash and Ginger's bed. Before, the kittens had shared Veggie and Catina's bed with their parents while the puppies slept in the same bed as Dash and Ginger but now the litters had their own bed for they had grown up over the past few months. Veggie's ears then picked up the familiar metallic rattling sounds travelling through the door from the kitchen and to the hall.

"Sounds like Susan is preparing our breakfast," he said, noting the missing food bowls that were normally placed near the beds.

"Yeah, she'll be bringing our food bowls through any moment," said Dash, "Let's wake our kittens and puppies up."

Ginger and Catina nodded in agreement and with that, the adult cats and greyhounds went and woke up their kittens and puppies. At this, the four grown-up kittens and five greyhounds all groaned and groggily opened their eyes as paws gently tapped on their heads.

"Kids," said Dash in a low voice to his puppies, "It's nearly time for breakfast."

Eduarda, Ginger and Dash's eldest daughter, allowed a yawn to escape her mouth.

"It's morning already?" she groaned.

"I'm afraid it is," said Ginger. Then Danny reached his left back leg to his left ear and began to scratch and itch away from under his ear.

"I've been having a strange dream," he moaned as he scratched his head.

"Really? What about?" asked Ginger. Danny sighed as he put his back leg down. "I've been dreaming that I was trying to some imprisoned birds from the clutches of a group of human thieves determined to smuggle them out of Rio."

At this, Eduarda, Avellana, Esperanza and James turned Danny's way.

"Imprisoned birds, bro?" repeated Esperanza curiously.

"What kind of birds were they?" asked James, "Macaws?"

"Some of them were," said Danny. He then began to shudder slightly. "But among the caged birds were a few blue macaws: one pair had three chicks; a family of five."

This sent surprise bubbling within his parents and siblings.

"What did that family of five blue macaws look like?" asked Avellana. Nearby, Catina and Veggie's grown-up offspring, Broccoli, Collette, Daisy and Thomas had just woken up.

"I don't know, it was quite fuzzy but one of the chicks looked chubby while the other two were slim," said Danny, "Like Carla, Bia and Tiago, Mr Blu and Mrs Jewel's chicks."

He then closed his eyes and began to shudder more. "And those macaws, alongside the other birds, were in utter distress and…"

Suddenly, Catina's voice interrupted Danny's explanation of the dream. "Breakfast's ready, everyone."

When this reached the ears of the cats and puppies, small excited yaps and mews filled the air as Susan walked in carrying the cat and greyhound family's bowls full of food. Danny, however, maintained his disturbed look while his four older siblings jumped out of the bed and trotted over to Susan, tails wagging. Dash moved his nose over to his youngest son's head and nuzzled its top.

"Look, son," he said, "Don't worry about that dream. It was just a dream. It's probably memories of Blu and Jewel's stories of their encounter with that hideous cockatoo called Nigel when they explained to us how they met, fell in love and their adventures in Rio before they paired up and had their two sons and daughter."

Danny felt his father's words calm the disturbed feelings within him and as soon as he had calmed down, Dash said, "Anyway, it's breakfast time. Can you join us please?"

Danny nodded and left his bed, walked alongside Dash and joined his four siblings as they ate the dog food from their bowl, while Dash joined Ginger. Veggie and his family had already tucked into their breakfast. Veggie, Broccoli and Daisy ate from the bowl containing vegetarian cat food while Catina, Collette and Thomas ate regular cat food from a separate bowl. The kittens and puppies certainly have grown over the past number of months. When they had been only a few weeks old, they had been rather small but now they were larger. The greyhound puppies had grown considerably. Their inheritance from either Dash or Ginger had increased as they grew. Eduarda, Danny and Avellana looked a lot more like their mother Ginger though Avellana's fur was darker, similar to the brown colour of hazelnuts, from where she got her name ('Avellana' was Spanish for 'hazelnut'). Eduarda and Danny had the exact same shade of ginger as their mother and the two greyhounds looked identical except for their eye colours. Eduarda had hazel eyes while Danny had sand brown eyes, lighter than his sister's. Avellana's eyes were a light baby blue. The other two puppies, Esperanza and James, took after Dash and had light grey fur. Again, they looked identical except for their eye colour: Esperanza had ocean blue eyes and James's eyes were brown. The greyhounds were close to adolescence but not far from it.

The kittens of Veggie and Catina had also grown larger in size and their inherited features had become more obvious. Quite unlike Dash and Ginger's puppies which were pure greyhounds, Catina and Veggie's kittens were a mix of tabby cat and calico. Veggie was a tabby cat while Catina was a calico cat. The calico inheritance was only visible in the daughters, Daisy and Collette, for the calico gene was on the sex chromosome. According to Blu, Bia and Ganymede, the gene was referred to as 'sex-linked', so only the female would have the calico pattern, though it had been reported in males as well, but this was extremely rare. Broccoli and Thomas looked exactly like Veggie and showed little or no inheritance from Catina. Thomas had blue eyes while Broccoli's eyes were brown. Their sisters, Collette and Daisy, however, looked like an exact mix of Veggie and Catina. Both kittens were white like their mother and had her black and orange blotches painted on certain parts of their body but instead of solid black and orange spots like Catina, there were slashes of black, orange and brown stripes smearing through the black and orange blotches which the daughters had inherited from Veggie, but Daisy had more of these stripes than Collette. The two cats were called 'caliby', a mix of calico and tabby. Daisy had baby blue eyes while Collette's eyes were hazel. Broccoli and Daisy also took after Veggie in food preference. The two did not like meat at all, preferring certain vegetables and vegetarian cat food. The kittens were almost sexually mature adults and had reached the end of their adolescence. As the young cats and puppies continued eating, Veggie watched them.

"You know something, sweetie," he said to Catina, "It won't be long before our offspring will be sold to new owners, especially now that our kittens had grown up."

"Yeah, I know," said Catina as she looked at her four grown up kittens and Dash and Ginger's five puppies, "Their birth doesn't seem that long ago. I can't believe the puppies are now almost adolescents. Time certainly has flown."

"I think it's about time we have them a talk about reproductive behaviour," said Dash, "Therefore they will be prepared for what to expect when they find mates and have their own kittens and puppies, and why they sometimes feel attracted to cats and dogs of the opposite sex. Our puppies had especially been pestering us for ages about how they got here."

"Don't forget that sometimes some cats and dogs are sterilised, Dash," said Ginger, "Especially if their owners don't want them to breed."

"Of course," said Dash as he realised this fact, "We'll have to include that in the talk."

Then Catina looked from one cat and puppy to the next. "Speaking of their change in size, their interests and personalities have also developed as well."

It was true. As the kittens and puppies had grown, their interests and personality traits had become more obvious. Broccoli seemed to like soccer, and besides his vegetarian nature he was very assertive and protective of his friends, similar to Veggie and Catina. Daisy was more timid and shy and did not seem to show any particular favourite hobby. Collette was fairly tough and had a love of anything brightly coloured, and had become into art and painting, and Thomas was playful, energetic and a little mischievous. Eduarda was a shy puppy but she is also fairly tough. Her favourite topic was mostly dancing. Esperanza did not seem to be into a particular subject but she did seem to be a little mischievous. James had a strong interest in music and samba, much like Carla, Justin and Io, and had dreamed of opening a music club only for cats and dogs when he left home to become the pet of another set of owners. Avellana was into nature and ecology like Bia and Ganymede but her understanding of the subjects was quite basic, and she only used a few technical terms. Danny was lovable and playful but also very timid. He did not like anyone, including himself, being in trouble and always ran off with his tail between his back legs whenever someone else was being told off for being naughty. Then as soon as the puppies and young cats had finished their breakfast, Ginger felt it was time for them to be given the serious talk about mating behaviour and having puppies and kittens. She would rather get it out of the way now than leave it till later, especially considering the limited number of days the young cats and puppies might have here.

"Right, you lot," she said firmly, "It is time for a serious talk."

When the words 'serious talk' reached the ears of the young cats and puppies, they quivered, especially Danny.

"Are we in any trouble, Mom?" asked Eduarda. Dash shook his head.

"No," he said, "We're going to talk to you about reproductive behaviour in us dogs and cats. After all, it is important information for you lot to prepare for should you, and your future owners, decide whether you will breed or not."

"Yeah, especially since you kept pestering us for the last few days about how you came to be," said Dash to the puppies. At this, the young cats and puppies breathed a sigh of relief. Then Veggie said, "Right, let's get prepared for this. As it is more appropriate that fathers speak with their sons and mothers with their daughters regarding this, let's split up."

And with that, Dash called for James and Danny and the three male greyhounds left for one corner, Ginger called for Avellana, Esperanza and Eduarda and they left for another corner, Veggie called for Thomas and Broccoli and they chose a third corner and Catina called for Collette and Daisy and they left for another private spot so that everyone else was out of earshot. While Dash, Ginger, Veggie and Catina began to give their offspring the talk about reproduction and reproductive behaviour in cats (for Catina with Collette and Daisy and Veggie with Broccoli and Thomas) and dogs (for Dash with the male puppies and Ginger with the female puppies), Susan and Lucy continued their morning routine. They had also had their own breakfast and had finished their daily morning Bible study. Now they were preparing for work at Tulio's Aviary. As Lucy made sure that she had everything for the day, she said, "Hey, Susan, you know some of Tulio's team members are going to go out to the Amazon to assess that recently discovered glaucous macaw flock?"

"Yes?" replied Susan, "What about it?"

"I'm wondering what the rest of us will be doing," said Lucy as she placed a clipboard into here bag, "But it depends on Tulio's plans."

"We'll have to see when we get there, sis," said Susan as she also packed up for the day. Then she remembered something else. "Oh, have you heard from our cousins Blake, Drake and Jake back in England?"

"Yes, they've finally completed their ecology degree," said Lucy with a smile, "I'm so proud of them."

"I also told them of the discovery of the Spix, the Lear's and glaucous macaw flocks," said Susan, "And they had been amazed to hear that there are so many other macaws like Venus, Mercury, Pluto and their mates and chicks out in the Amazon."

Lucy sighed as she remembered believing Venus, Mercury and Pluto to be some type of hyacinth macaws rather than a Spix, Lear's and glaucous macaw respectively.

"I'll never forget how we assumed those three birds to be hyacinth macaws until Francisco opened our eyes to the fact that they are in fact the species of three critically endangered macaws," she murmured.

"Yeah, I remember that too," said Susan. She then continued packing for the work day ahead. "Anyway, let's continue to get ready for work. I'm expecting a lot of important jobs for us today."

Lucy nodded as she also packed her bag.

Out in the streets of Rio, people were heading off to work either on foot or by vehicle. It truly was busy and the streets and roads were packed. While the humans continued their daily business, city animals were also walking around looking for food. City pigeons dotted various spots of Rio, chatting or looking for food while stray cats and dogs scavenged the bins and litter in the alleyways and streets, occasionally fleeing from anyone who spotted them and chased them. This sort of lifestyle was what Ginger had after she had fled the home of her abusive owner after releasing Roberto and before being adopted by Susan and Lucy to become the mate of Dash. However, these cats and dogs were soon to find a home and be adopted by a loving owner or family. While the daily and usual activities of Rio continued to flow, in Tijuca forest, the avian residents of the Blu Bird Sanctuary were also up to their usual activities, such as dancing to their favourite songs or foraging to feed themselves and/or their families. Mammals such as monkeys also foraged for food and sometimes caused a bit of mischief. In one part of the Blu Bird Sanctuary, the bat colony (not the flying foxes) in which a bat called Basil lived, were also starting their day. It truly was a busy time for the animals of the Blu Bird Sanctuary as well. However, some former residents of the Blu Bird Sanctuary will soon be making their return to Rio to spend the summer. A small flock of colourful birds, specifically parrots, were flying over the sea of trees and were not far away from Rio at all. The flock was made up of eleven families. Two of the families were Spix macaws. One had three chicks and the other four. The third family was a family of Lear's macaws with three chicks, the fourth was a family of green-winged macaws with three chicks, the fifth were scarlet macaws with four chicks, the sixth were blue-and-gold macaws with seven chicks, the seventh were great green macaws with five chicks, the eighth were hyacinth macaws with only two chicks, the ninth were blue-throated macaws with three chicks, the tenth were glaucous macaws with four chicks and the eleventh were cockatoos with three hybrid chicks with their mother being a Major Mitchell's cockatoo and their father a sulfur-crested cockatoo. Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago, together with Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Ceres, Pluto and Travis and their mates and chicks had come back to Rio for the summer, having flown for several days from the Sanctuary de Amazon.

Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago flew at the front of the group with Venus and her mate Zephyr and chicks Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil flying to their left. To Blu and his family's right flew Mars and his mate Chiquitita and chicks Phobos, Deimos and Alexandre. Phobos and Deimos rode on Mars's back for they were too small to keep up with the others due to their size. Behind Blu and his family were Jupiter and his mate Ruby and chicks Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto flanked by Mercury and his mate Sapphire and chicks Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette to their left and Saturn and his mate Orquidea and chicks Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan and Iapetus to their right, forming a second row. Behind Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn's families flew Uranus and his mate Esmeralda and chicks Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon with Neptune and his mate Ultramarine and chicks Triton and Indigo to their right and Ceres and her mate Cobalto and chicks Azul, Aurelio and Wilbur to their left. Then at the very back at the flock were Pluto, his mate Lapis Lazuli and chicks Blueberry, Charon, Quincy and Flor, and Travis, his mate Sunset, and chicks Eustace, Milo and Rosa. Much like Dash and Ginger's puppies and Veggie and Catina's kittens, the chicks had all grown over the past number of months. At the beginning of the year, the chicks had been rather small, and the size difference between the two hyacinth chicks, Triton and Indigo, and the others had been small. Now, the chicks were bigger, and the size difference between Triton and Indigo and the other chicks had increased, but Phobos and Deimos were still rather small. However, all the chicks were still far from adolescence. Some macaw species, such as Spix, scarlet and blue-throated macaws, reached sexual maturity at around five years, while for Lear's and military macaws it was four years, for blue-and-gold macaws, the average was five years and for hyacinths, seven years. And while the chicks had grown, they will still continue to increase in size until they reach early adulthood.

As the sea of green trees below them continued to flow by and the familiar landmarks of Rio emerged into view, Blu looked up ahead and smiled.

"Almost there, everyone," he called to the others. He still had his fanny pack on him but this time; he did not use a GPS. Before and during the early parts of the journey, Jewel had insisted that Blu not take one of those things with him, remembering how it had got them lost during their journey to Manaus to find the Spix macaw tribe, especially how Jupiter's group had managed to find Manaus without the use of one, and without having to face the hassle of getting lost by flying all over Brazil! Jupiter and the others still found it funny that Blu would take such a human device when he had a mate who was born in the wild and thus had well-developed instinctive navigational abilities to help them find Manaus. As the group continued flying on, Zephyr and Venus, and Mars and Chiquitita who flew at the front of the flock with Blu and Jewel, also looked ahead, as did their chicks. Sure enough, Venus saw a rounded brown thing over the treeline.

"Sugarloaf Mountain," she said, "We certainly are almost there."

"Yep," said Mars with a smile, "Back to where we met our mates and had our chicks."

"When I grow up," said Alexandre who flew alongside his father Mars, "I wanna travel too."

"So would I," said Phobos who rode on Mars's back with Deimos, "But only with some of the other macaws."

"Well, I'm afraid you're still too young, you two," said Chiquitita sadly, "You're gonna have to wait until you are grown up."

"Exactly," said Mars, "Travelling by yourself or with a group of macaws is a huge responsibility. You're only capable of travelling now because you have adult supervision."

Alexandre, Phobos and Deimos all groaned. To Blu and Jewel's left, Venus and her family smiled as the cityscape of Rio gradually emerged into view. Brisa was not with them. She had decided to stay back in the Amazon with the Spix macaw tribe so that she could spend more time with Roberto.

"I'm surprised that Brisa has opted against coming," Venus said, "Maybe that's a good thing since Tornado and Gael completely lost both of you when those smugglers attacked, Zephyr."

"Yes, that's true," said Zephyr, "But also because she wants to spend some time with our friends that we have missed for nineteen years, especially Roberto."

"It's good to be back in the city where we first met and eventually became mates," crooned Venus romantically, "And our chicks' birthplace."

Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil all rolled their eyes. They sometimes found their mother's romantic voice, and also when she and Zephyr kiss, soppy sometimes. Zephyr, however, nodded in agreement and gave his mate a brief nuzzle. Behind them, Mercury called out, "You know, time sure does fly quickly. It doesn't seem like yesterday that our chicks hatched."

"That's very true," said Zephyr as he looked over his large clutch, "Soon, they will be adults."

Venus sighed, knowing that the fact was true. There will come a time when her two sons and two daughters will reach an age when they will leave the nest and possibly find mates of their own. Venus loved chicks and despite the challenges that came with being a parent, especially of a large brood, she especially enjoyed being a mother. However, Zephyr did tell her about the possibility of having a second brood when their first brood was close to leaving their nest. While Venus thought about this, Mercury talked with Sapphire.

"Do you remember the day when our chicks hatched, sweetie?" he asked, looking at Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette.

"Yes, I do," said Sapphire, "I remember it as though it were yesterday."

Mercury nodded in agreement as he continued admiring his daughters. He hoped that a son would hatch from a second brood for he would love a son, and he and Sapphire had plans on having future broods as soon as Phoebe and her sisters had flown the nest. Then Mercury moved on to something else.

"By the way, is it true that the Lear's macaw tribe is descended from that colony of Lear's macaws in the Bahia sandstone cliffs?" he asked.

"Yes," said Sapphire, "Generations ago, some of the Lear's macaws had left that colony to look for somewhere else to settle, presumably because of a dispute. After so long, they finally found the ravine our tribe lives in now because of the holes in its cliff face and we prefer our nests to be in a cliff face rather than a tree."

"My parents Thomas and Lola lived in a tree," said Mercury, "And I'm wondering if they are descended from the migrant Lear's macaws as well, but I don't know…"

Sapphire just said nothing in reply. Next to Mercury and his family, Jupiter wore a smile on his face as his mate and four chicks flew around him.

"I can't wait to see how our cat and greyhound friends will have grown up since we have last seen them," he said, "They'll either be adolescence or close to the end of it soon."

"Adolescence?" repeated Ruby confused.

"Domestic cats reach sexual maturity at around six months but depending on the breed, it is variable," said Jupiter, "While in domestic dogs, some breeds will reach sexual maturity earlier than others. When we meet Veggie and Catina's offspring, they'll have become young adult cats by now."

Ruby then looked at Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto as they admired the flowing scenery below the group. "I won't be long until our chicks reach adolescence too."

Jupiter then looked at his three daughters and son and shook his head in agreement. Next to Jupiter and his family on their right, Saturn and his big family continued to focus ahead on the emerging cityscape of Rio.

"We're going to have to think of where we're going to sleep," he murmured. Then a thought entered Orquidea's head.

"Oh, that's something we forgot to consider," she muttered, "The trees in which we stayed will have been taken up by another bird family by now…"

She then eyed Mimas and her six siblings and began to become worried and concerned. Behind the blue-and-gold macaws, Uranus, Neptune, Ceres, Pluto and Travis also shared the same worry, though Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa already had a birdhouse. However, the cockatoos were worried about where the macaw families apart from Blu's were going to sleep for the nights. Then Saturn decided to alert Jupiter and Zephyr and Blu at the front.

"Guys," he called. Blu, Jupiter and Zephyr turned to him.

"What is it, Saturn?" asked Jupiter.

"Have any of you considered where we're going to sleep?" asked Saturn, "I have a feeling that our former homes well have been taken up by some bird families back in where we used to live."

"Oh, that's a thought," muttered Zephyr, "We'd never thought of that."

Blu then looked at him as Venus sighed. "Why didn't you lot choose to stay in a birdhouse rather than in trees like how we and your cockatoo friends did?"

Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago also gave Zephyr a look.

"We wanted to stay in a more natural home," said Zephyr, "But when we left to find the Spix macaw tribe and their neighbours after you had gone with Rafael, Nico and Pedro, we didn't have any plans to return to Rio at the time."

Blu then made a concerned look but Jewel looked unworried.

"We'll see what we can come up with when we get back to Rio," she said. Then Venus looked at Blu and Jewel and said, "Can't we share your birdhouse?"

This was met by the shake of Blu and Jewel's heads.

"Sorry, Venus," said Blu, "Our birdhouse is built to house one family of five only. There isn't enough room for another family."

"Certainly not for a family of eight," said Jewel. Then Carla, Bia and Tiago made a sour look towards Zephyr and Venus. They clearly did not like the idea of sharing their rooms with another chick and wanted their own privacy. Then Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil all sighed. At the back of the group, Uranus had put aside the problem for now.

"I reckon Nico, Pedro, Rafael and Luiz will be glad to see us again, alongside our cat and dog friends," he said.

"Yeah, I'm sure they will," said Esmeralda.

"Will Nico and Pedro be running the club still?" asked Miranda.

"Of course, my daughter," said Uranus, "That duo never tire of performing their incredible music and sharing it with their friends."

Beside Uranus and his family, Cobalto said, "I'm considering taking Ceres there for a night out, actually."

At this, Wilbur, Aurelio and Azul looked at him and began to beg.

"Can we come too?" asked Azul. Wilbur and Aurelio nodded in agreement.

"I'm afraid you're still too young," said Ceres sadly, "You're going to have to wait until you're a bit older."

"Yes," said Esmeralda, "That club is really for grown-ups."

"Especially since we might be out until very late," said Uranus. As he said this, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon also groaned.

"Carla and Justin wanted to go to the club as well," said Ariel, "But fat chance."

Her three sisters and brother all groaned in agreement. On Uranus and his family's other side, Neptune said, "You know, Cobalto, I think that's a good idea to have some lone time together as couples in Nico and Pedro's club."

Then he looked at Triton and Indigo who also wore sad looks on their faces that they could not go to the club. "But we are going to need babysitters to watch over our kids while we're out those nights."

"If you're thinking of Rafael and Eva," said Lapis Lazuli behind them, "You can scrap that idea."

Neptune shot Lapis Lazuli a confused look.

"They were very poor at disciplining their kids," said Ultramarine with a frown, "And because of that, not many of us trust them to babysit our kids at all."

"Ónix, our red tailed black cockatoo friend," said Pluto, "Will be very busy as well, and Dash and Veggie aren't particularly keen on looking after our chicks for they don't see it as very natural for dogs and cats, especially cats, to look after baby birds."

"Good point," said Travis. Then Sunset had an idea.

"I know, why don't Travis and I take up that duty?" she asked. Heads turned in her direction.

"But Sunset," said Uranus, "How are you going to deal with Saturn and Venus's large broods?"

"You will need extra help with looking after those chicks," said Pluto firmly, glancing briefly at Blueberry, Quincy, Charon and Flor and making sure that all four chicks were present, "You'd probably have little to no problem looking after the broods of the others but Venus and Saturn's large broods…"

Suddenly, Blu's voice cut Pluto off. "Here we are everyone!"

At this, Pluto broke off the conversation and looked down at the flowing land below the group. Travis, Sunset, Lapis Lazuli and the others including the chicks did the same. Sure enough, the familiar sea of brown, grey and white mottled cityscape of Rio bordered by the azure crystalline surface of the ocean separated by a thin beige line emerged into full view. The Christ the Redeemer statue stood magnificently over the city atop a blob of green and grey piece of land. The group all smiled as they admired the familiar city.

"Good to be back here for a change," breathed Blu. Zephyr shot him a slight glare.

"I hope you're not going to return to your human-like lifestyle, pal," he muttered. Blu shot him a surprised glare while Jewel let loose a sigh, agreeing with Zephyr's statement.

"We're not going to be having you feeding our chicks stuff like pancakes with cream," added Venus, "That is not the stuff we eat."

Carla, Bia and Tiago, at this, shot Venus a slightly sour glare.

"Hey, we love pancakes!" muttered Carla.

"Especially with cream and grapes," added Tiago.

"You ought to try some," said Bia. When Justin and Charlotte heard this, they looked at their parents with hopeful smiles. Matilda and Virgil, however, didn't agree.

"Can we, Mom and Dad?" asked Charlotte hopefully but Zephyr, a frown marking his face, shook his head.

"It's human food," he said firmly, disgust tinting his voice, "It's not something we macaws should eat."

"Yes, the proper food should be fruit, nuts and insects," said Venus, "Our owners knew that we had to have the right food to stay healthy when we were their pets."

Jupiter let loose a sigh. "We did get to try a few human foods at one point, Venus. Remember that I tried a cracker once."

Zephyr turned his head so sharply at Jupiter as though a spring had snapped in his neck.

"You've tried crackers!?" he almost shouted incredulously. Ruby then gave Jupiter a look.

"Roberto, when he was kept as a pet," she said, "Was forced to eat those things by his abusive owner. And believe me, he absolutely detested them."

"Yes," said Jewel with a frown, "Bland, disgusting, sickly things, he called them."

Ruby then shuddered as she remembered her time as a pet when she was forced to perform in shows and certain films while Jupiter shrugged.

"Our owners were trying to see which food we liked and which food we didn't like," he explained, "Of course, I wasn't keen on the crackers so Susan, Lucy, Blake, Jake and Drake had crossed that off the list."

"Our owners were careful not to feed us the wrong sort of food like chocolate," said Saturn, "As that is toxic to us macaws."

"There's a special chocolate made especially for pets if you want to try it," said Blu, "I know Linda used to make cookies with chocolate chips of that type for me when I lived in Minnesota…"

"Please!" shouted Jewel, cutting Blu off, "We're getting side tracked."

At this, all heads turned to Jewel as Jupiter then said, "Let's just get settled here first as we've just arrived in Rio. Where are we going to first, Jewel?"

"Our birdhouse, at Tulio and Linda's cottage," said Jewel, "And then we'll go to your former owners' home."

"Sounds good," said Zephyr.

"I would love to see your birdhouse," said Venus, "Haven't seen it in a while."

"Then let's go there," said Mars. The others all shouted in agreement and with that, Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago all led the group in the direction of Tulio, Linda and Fernando's cottage.