Chapter 29- epilogue

Around seven months later…

The jungle was alive with song and various coloured feathered forms. Birds of various types and species danced in the air and on the branches of the trees, singing their favourite song, 'Real in Rio' and among a few other favourite songs. Dancing among the colourful flock were two blue macaws, one dark blue with brown eyes and the other cerulean with teal eyes. With them were three more blue macaws, which were young chicks, a red crested cardinal and his bottle cap wearing yellow canary buddy, and toco toucan and his keel-billed toucan mate and their eighteen hybrid offspring. Blu, Jewel and their three chicks Carla, Bia and Tiago flew acrobatically through the elegant flock of birds with Nico and Pedro flying by. Rafael, Eva and their eighteen offspring were also singing and dancing. Then after the song of 'Real in Rio', Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago flew into the air to play together.

Carla, Bia and Tiago had all changed radically in appearance over the past seven months. Carla had grown into a beautiful young chick with brighter blue feathers. Her eyes had also become a brighter green in colour, brighter than her mother Jewel's. Carla had also taken on a chubby appearance and her crest had become more like that of her mother's. Her facial markings had also become a darker shade of blue. They were a patch around each eye and a band over the top of her beak. Carla had also grown more and more into the subject of music, dancing and singing, and she had a beautiful singing voice. She was also slightly feisty and a little prideful at times. Bia had also grown into a beautiful young chick but her body build had taken on a more slender build, like that of her mother Jewel. Bia, in fact, looked like a spitting image of her mother apart from her brown eyes which she had inherited from her father Blu. Bia's crest, however, was flatter and fell straight down behind her head and her fascial markings were like those of Carla's but blue-white instead of darker blue. Bia's interests in science and nature had drastically grown over the past six months and she was now like her father Blu, sometimes able to quote scientific facts about various things. Bia was more timid than Carla, and sometimes had low self-esteem. Tiago, the only son of Blu and Jewel, had also radically changed in appearance. However, he had retained his darker blue feathers. His crest had become bushier similar to Jewel's and his brown eyes had become slightly darker. Tiago's build was slender like Bia and Jewel's build and he had a scatter of downy feathers around his neck and chest. Tiago was the rascal of the three chicks of Blu and Jewel and likes practical jokes and light hearted mischief.

As the Spix macaw family flew over the green sea of trees, laughing and playfully chasing each other, with Nico, Pedro and Rafael joining in, the sun beamed down its golden shafts of light onto the jungle. There were a few clouds in the sky but it was a beautiful day. Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago continued flying through the trees, playfully chasing each other and Nico, Pedro and Rafael.

"Hah, I'm faster than you, sis," shouted Tiago to Carla playfully.

"Oh, yeah, but can you do this?" said Carla with a boastful voice and with that, she did an impressive corkscrew. When Tiago tried to mimic this, the only thing he did was fly in a helical path rather than straight and spinning much to Carla's amusement.

"Aw, man," muttered Tiago as Carla laughed at him and flew away. Tiago then chased after her. As the two chicks flew ahead of Blu, Jewel and Bia who laughed, two dark navy blue and teal face and chested macaws flew in. Carla and Tiago, startled by the unexpected appearance of Mercury and Sapphire, immediately retreated to their parents' sides.

"Whoa, it's okay, you two, it's only us," said Mercury with a laugh. The group laughed as the two Lear's macaws then joined in the fun. However, Mercury and Sapphire were no longer the only Lear's macaws to live near Rio. As the couple began to playfully chase Blu, Jewel and Rafael and play with their three chicks, three smaller dark navy and teal forms flew in and began to play with Carla, Bia and Tiago. Mercury and Sapphire had become the proud parents of three beautiful daughters named Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette. Like their parents and every other Lear's macaw, all three had very dark navy blue feathers and teal tinted faces and chests, as well as orange-yellow eye rings and a lappet by their lower beaks. Phoebe was the oldest daughter. She had inherited Sapphire's slightly stocky build and woman's hair like crest. However, Phoebe's crest feathers were shorter than Sapphire's and they only extended as far as her shoulders. She had grey eyes, just like her father Mercury and was an agile flyer. Jasmine, the second oldest daughter and middle chick, also had Sapphire's crest feathers but of the same length but she also had a small tassel of feathers sticking up from her crown, like that of Mercury. Her body build was slender like her father and her eyes were blue like her mother's. Annette, the youngest daughter of Sapphire and Mercury, was quite different from her sisters. She had a large tassel crest on her head like that of Mercury and a fairly slender build. However, her eyes were unique amongst her family. While her sisters and parents had either grey or blue eyes, Annette's eye shade was half way between Mercury's grey eye colour and Sapphire's blue eye colour, a sort of bluish-grey. Phoebe had a love for anything bright and colourful, and was quite talented at art, while Jasmine favoured song and had a beautiful singing voice much like Carla, and Annette favoured dancing. However, she would rather not sing for she was very shy and she felt that her singing voice was not very good. All three did have one favourite topic in common and that was stargazing, a thing both Mercury and Sapphire also liked doing. While Mercury and Sapphire flew alongside Blu and Jewel, their three daughters began to playfully chase Blu and Jewel's two daughters and son.

"Hey, Bia," shouted Phoebe, "What's the scientific name for coconut tree?"

"Cocos nucifera," replied Bia almost immediately. Mercury smiled at Bia's talent in science.

"We'll make a nature encyclopaedia out of her one of these days," he said to Blu and Jewel.

"She's very good at science, like Blu," said Jewel with a loving nuzzle against Blu's beak. Then Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette began to play with Carla, Bia and Tiago. Nico, Pedro and Rafael then joined in the chase just as three more adult Spix macaws joined the party with six more Spix macaw chicks.

Zephyr and Venus had become the proud parents of a clutch of four chicks. Their chicks were eldest son and chick Justin, second oldest chick and oldest daughter Charlotte, third oldest chick and second oldest daughter Matilda, and youngest chick and son Virgil. Brisa had also become a proud aunt of Zephyr and Venus's chicks. Justin was practically the spitting image of his father Zephyr. Like Zephyr, he had a blue body with a blue-white head and a short tuft of blue feathers just above his beak like Zephyr does. He also had his father's stocky build and showed little inheritance from Venus. The only feature he had inherited from Venus was her amber eyes. Justin was quite into music and dancing, like Carla, but his taste in music expanded to the seventies, eighties and nineties besides the most recent decade songs which were Carla's preferred range of music. Carla and Justin were also close friends due to their common taste in music despite the difference in time range. Charlotte looked a lot like her aunt Brisa. Like Brisa, she had cerulean feathers and crest which extended over her crown, a blue-white head and a slender build. However, her eyes were chartreuse, sort of half way between Zephyr's green eye colour and Venus's amber eye colour. Charlotte did not share anything in common with Carla, Bia and Tiago but she was an avid soccer player and had a real talent for it. Matilda, unlike her older brother and sister, showed more inheritance from Venus than she did Zephyr. Like Venus, she had a light feather colour shade but hers were much brighter, almost electric blue. Also unlike Zephyr, Justin and Charlotte, Matilda had inherited Venus's blue-white spec-like facial markings (a patch around each eye connected by a band over the beak). Her crest was also from Venus: a double set of head feathers resembling pigtails, but like Venus, Matilda preferred to keep them tied in a vine or bobble to prevent the feathers from flopping about all over the place. Her eyes were green, however, like Zephyr's and she had a slender build. Matilda liked practical jokes and mischief much like Tiago did. Because of this, the two had become close friends and loved to play practical jokes on their friends together. Finally, Virgil had electric blue feathers like Matilda and also spec-like markings but his crest did not resemble either Venus or Zephyr's set of head feathers. Instead, he had a ruffle of feathers on the back of his head. Venus's father Erico had this sort of head feather set. Virgil also had a stocky build and his eyes were blue, unlike his parents and siblings. Again, Erico had blue eyes and Venus must have passed on his eye shade to Virgil. Virgil was named after a character from the Thunderbirds franchise, Virgil Tracy, the Thunderbirds being one of Venus's favourite TV series when she lived in London. Virgil was the toughest of Zephyr and Venus's chicks, and was protective of those that are not very assertive or are shy. He appeared fond of Bia and loved listening to her give out scientific facts, though he does not always agree with certain things like evolution.

Zephyr, Venus and Brisa, together with Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil, began to join in the fun with Blu, Mercury and their families. Brisa then smiled as the seven Spix macaw chicks and three Lear's macaw chicks began chasing each other.

"I'm gonna get ya, you little rascals" she said with a light hearted smile and with that, she began to pursue the chicks much to the amusement of Zephyr, Venus, Blu, Jewel, Mercury and Sapphire. Zephyr and Venus shared a brief kiss as they looked on. Soon, the group was joined by the other macaws, Mars and his mate Chiquitita, Jupiter and his mature Ruby, Saturn and his mate Orquidea, Uranus and his mate Esmeralda, Neptune and his mate Ultramarine, Ceres and her mate Cobalto, and Pluto and his mate Lapis Lazuli. Like Mercury, Venus and their respective mates Sapphire and Zephyr, these seven pairs had also had chicks.

Mars and Chiquitita had become the proud parents of three chicks: all sons named Phobos, Deimos and Alexandre. Phobos was the oldest chick, Deimos was the second oldest and Alexandre was the youngest. Because of her small size, some ornithologists including Tulio had doubted that Chiquitita would ever conceive and have a clutch of eggs but she had proved them wrong. Like all green-winged macaws, Phobos, Deimos and Alexandre had red feathers, face masks of white skin, and green and blue wings on the topsides. Phobos and Deimos were both very small despite being the oldest two chicks and must have inherited Chiquitita's petite size. They both looked a lot like their father Mars and to a degree, Chiquitita especially for their small size. They both had azure blue wing flight feathers like both their parents, but their tails were different. Phobos's tail was part azure; part red like his father while Deimos's tail was almost entirely red like his mother Chiquitita, whose tail was almost completely red. Both small siblings had a crest like Mars: a feather ruffle at the base of their heads. Phobos had green eyes like Chiquitita and Deimos had orange eyes like Mars. Both Phobos and Deimos had a slender build also like Chiquitita. Alexandre, the youngest son, was taller than his two older siblings for he had inherited Mars's average green-winged macaw size. He had a stocky build like Mars but his crest was a flat sheet of feathers behind his head rather like Chiquitita but without the flick. His eyes were green like his mother's and his tail was mostly azure blue with red at the tips of the feathers. Phobos and Deimos, named after the two moons of Mars's namesake Red Planet, were timid while Alexandre was tough, like his father and his mother. Phobos and Deimos were very good friends with Aurora, the youngest daughter of Zephyr and Venus because of their common small size, and Chiquitita had also taken a liking to Aurora and had been the one to help Zephyr and Venus to finally teach her to fly when Aurora struggled. This was a good thing since before, Chiquitita, along with Ruby, used to despise Jewel, Brisa and Zephyr but now they were the best of friends and this was shown in Mars and Venus's positive interfamily interactions. Phobos and Deimos did not show much interest or strong like in a particular subject but Alexandre was a talented dancer.

Jupiter and Ruby had also become the proud parents but they had four chicks instead of three: three daughters named Io, Europa and Callisto and a son named Ganymede. Both Jupiter and Ruby had agreed to name their four chicks after the moons of Jupiter's namesake giant planet for they both liked those names. Io was the oldest daughter and chick while Europa was the second oldest, Ganymede was the third oldest and Callisto was the youngest. Like all scarlet macaws, all four chicks' feathers were a shade of red and they all had the distinctive yellow band between the blue flight feathers and red contours on their wings. Io had red feathers like her mother Ruby and she also had her amber eyes, slender build and the flower-like crest. However, she had inherited Jupiter's teal-tinted turquoise feathers and tail parts. Despite being the oldest of her brood, Io was one of the shortest. Europa also looked a lot like Ruby and had her slender build and flower-like crest but she also had additional feathers just at the base of her head. Her eyes were a shade of blue, which was unusual since neither Jupiter nor Ruby had blue eyes. However, a member of Ruby's family did have blue eyes and it must have been passed on through Ruby. Europa's feathers were vermillion like her father and her wing flight feathers (topsides) and parts of her tail were blue like Ruby's. Europa was also the shortest of the brood despite being the second born. Ganymede was the tallest of the brood and had a stocky and muscular build like his father Jupiter but he had Ruby's red feathers. His wing feathers and parts of his tail feathers were also blue like Ruby's and Ganymede had a cluster of feathers at the back of his head and brown eyes like Jupiter. Finally, Callisto was also tall but slightly shorter than Ganymede. She looked the most like Jupiter than the other three chicks. Like Jupiter, Callisto had vermillion feathers, teal-tinted turquoise wing feathers and tail parts, and a flat sheet of head feathers also like Jupiter. However, her head feathers had a flick to them much like Jewel's. Callisto's eyes were a dark shade of brown, like that of dark chocolate, and she had a slender build like Ruby, and was not as muscular as her father and brother. Io was into music like Carla and Justin, Europa liked mischief like Tiago and Matilda, Ganymede was into science much like Bia and Callisto liked soccer like Charlotte.

Saturn and Orquidea, had had a rather big clutch, which was of seven chicks. Their chicks were named, from oldest to youngest, Mimas (daughter), Enceladus (son), Tethys, Dione, Rhea (all three daughters), Titan and Iapetus (both sons), again all named after moons of a planet (in this case, Saturn's namesake ringed planet). All seven chicks had the same features as every blue-and-gold macaw. Their back parts were blue while their front parts were yellow, and they also had green foreheads, black beard-like mark under their beaks and some facial skin. However, they did have differing features. Mimas looked a lot like Orquidea and her blue shade was cerulean while her yellow shade was slightly pale, like her mother. She had a green tuft of feathers on her forehead like Saturn and she also had his beige eyes. Her body build was slender like her mother. Enceladus also had a cerulean back and yellow front but unlike his parents and siblings, his wing feathers were a darker shade of cerulean towards the tips. His crest was a green tuft like Saturn and he had his stocky build but his eyes were a shade of pale blue. One of Orquidea's close relatives had blue eyes. Tethys, Dione and Rhea were similar to triplets. All three looked alike but up close they had differing features. All three girls looked a lot like Orquidea and had her cerulean back and pale yellow front, and they also had her ponytail-like crest, which they kept tied with a vine, and pink or purple shaded eyes. Tethys had a short ponytail with magenta eyes, Dione had a medium length ponytail and had pink eyes and Rhea had the longest ponytail of the three with violet eyes. All three showed little inheritance from Saturn though Rhea did have a small tuft of feathers on her green forehead. The last two sons, Titan and Iapetus, were quite different again. Titan was the tallest of his brood despite being the sixth born and must have inherited Saturn's rather large size as well as his fairly muscular build as well as his dark aqua blue back parts and rich yellow front parts and beige eyes, so Titan looked an awful lot like Saturn and showed little inheritance from Orquidea. However, he neither had Saturn or Orquidea's crest. His crest was a simple ruffle at the back of his head. Finally, Iapetus looked the most unusual of the seven siblings. His back was a dark shade of blue, dark aqua like Saturn's but his front was pale yellow like Orquidea's, resulting in a strong contrast between his blue back and yellow front. Iapetus had a green tuft of feathers like Mimas, Enceladus and Rhea, but his were the longest in the brood and the feathers extended over his crown similar to how Brisa's did. Iapetus had brown eyes, a shade that some relative in either Saturn or Orquidea's family tree must have had, and a stocky build like Saturn. Mimas liked soccer, Enceladus like nature though he was not as brainy as Bia or Ganymede, Tethys, Dione and Rhea liked mischief to a degree, Titan liked art and music, and Iapetus was a talented singer and dancer. Because of the brood size, Saturn and Orquidea did hire a babysitter to help them raise their seven chicks and they were sometimes helped by their friends as well. The seven eggs were not laid at the same time but over the course of two or three days and it was extremely rare for broods to be of this size.

Uranus and Esmeralda had also become proud parents of a clutch of five chicks, four older girls named Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel and Titania and youngest and only son Oberon. Like two of Mars and Chiquitita's chicks and all of Jupiter, Ruby and Saturn and Orquidea's chicks, these five were named after a planet's moons, but of the moons of Uranus this time. Uranus and Esmeralda had settled on these names as the names Miranda and Titania were two of Esmeralda's favourite names and they also happened to be the names of two of the moons of the planet Uranus. Like all great green macaws, the five sisters and brother had a green upper body, wings and head, some skin around their faces, red foreheads, wing flight feathers, parts of their tail and lower backs that were blue and yellow wing and tail undersides. Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel and Titania all looked alike, much like how Tethys, Dione and Rhea did. They were all very like Esmeralda and they all shared her azure blue parts, yellow-green undersides, wavy head feathers and slim build. All four girls also had eye colours that were a shade of green. Miranda had emerald green eyes like Esmeralda, Ariel had lime green eyes, Umbriel had dark hunter green eyes, like those of leaves in a solid shadow, and Titania had blue-green eyes. Oberon, however, looked more like his father Uranus. He had a stocky build, cerulean blue parts, yellow undersides and a set of forward pointing head feathers like Uranus. However, unlike his sisters and parents whose eyes were a shade of green, Oberon's eyes were sky blue. At least one of Esmeralda's family members had blue eyes and the blue also showed in Titania's eyes. Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel and Titania had sometimes been called the quadruplets by other birds due to their almost identical appearance. All four liked nature and Miranda liked painting, Ariel liked nature, Umbriel liked insects and Titania liked flowers. Oberon, however, was more into soccer.

Neptune and Ultramarine had the smallest brood of the macaw couples, only two chicks consisting of a son named Triton and a daughter named Indigo. Triton, the oldest son and chick, named after the largest moon of Neptune, looked a lot like his father. He had Neptune's forward pointing tassel crest and a few feathers at the back of his head. However, he had inherited Ultramarine's stocky build and his eyes were a darker shade of blue than Neptune's. Triton had an unusual shade of blue to his feathers for a hyacinth macaw. While most hyacinth macaws had dark navy blue feathers, Triton's feather shade neared that of Blu and Zephyr. It wasn't a common thing for hyacinth macaws to have such bright a blue feathers, but Ultramarine had noted to Neptune that two of her family members, her older sister and mother, also had light blue feathers. Indigo, Triton's younger sister, however, did have the usual dark navy blue feathers but the feathers on her wings appeared to be violet tinted. Indigo had inherited Neptune's slender build, and she had a simple feather ruffle at the base of her head. Indigo's eyes were a shade of lilac, sort of a lighter version of Ultramarine's violet eye colour. Both Triton and Indigo were similar in size to the other chicks, if slightly taller but as they grow, this size difference will increase dramatically. Indigo was into science like Bia and Triton liked music and acting.

Ceres and Cobalto have had a brood of three sons, oldest son Azul, middle son Aurelio, and youngest son Wilbur. Like all blue-throated macaws, the brothers had blue backs, yellow fronts and no green forehead or black beard like marking under the beak, instead having the characteristic blue bib-like mark instead, and a small ring of white skin surrounding their eyes. All three brothers had a stocky build, which they had inherited from both their parents. However, their plumage shades varied. Azul had a blue back and bib mark and yellow-ochre front like Ceres did but he had the same sort of crest as Cobalto, a small cluster of feathers sticking backward like Blu's but larger. His eyes were a shade of blue, lighter than his father's midnight blue. Aurelio's back parts and bib were cobalt blue like his father's but his front was a softer yellow. His crest was a sheet of feathers at the back of his head, a feature neither Cobalto nor Ceres had but it was a feature one of Cobalto's relatives had. Aurelio's eyes were grey like Ceres but darker. Wilbur had a dark teal-tinted blue back and bib and his front parts were yellow-orange. His eyes were a shade of violet and Wilbur did not have much of a crest, with only a single feather flick on the top of his head. Ceres had named Wilbur after the pig in Charlotte's Web. All three boys seemed to like soccer, but Azul liked dancing, Aurelio liked singing and had an elaborate singing voice and Wilbur seemed to like anything brightly coloured.

Last of all, Pluto and Lapis Lazuli, the only known pair of glaucous macaws in existence, had achieved Tulio and his team's objective of breeding and giving their near-extinct species a new hope in a new generation. They had become the parents of a clutch of four chicks, eldest daughter and chick Blueberry, second oldest chick and oldest son Charon, third oldest and younger son Quincy, and youngest chick and daughter Flor. All four chicks had yellow eye rings and a beak lappet and also an all-grey head and neck like very glaucous macaw, and their body feathers varied from blue through turquoise to a soft teal-tinted light blue. Blueberry looked a lot like Lapis Lazuli but her body feathers were azure. She had no teal tint to her feathers, and her crest resembled that of Jewel. Unlike Lapis Lazuli's crest feathers which faded to blue towards the tips, Blueberry's crest was entirely grey. Blueberry's eyes were light blue and she had a slender build like both her parents. Charon, named after the largest moon of Pluto, had dark turquoise coloured feathers but no teal tint. He had most of Pluto's features including his sandy brown eyes, slender build and cowlick-like crest. However he did have a short sheet of feather behind his head which he got from Lapis Lazuli. Quincy had the same shade of body feathers as Pluto. Like his father's, his feathers were soft teal-tinted turquoise. Quincy's eyes were hazel; darker than Pluto and Charon's eyes but not as dark as Blu's eyes, and his crest was a sheet of feathers behind his head like his brother Charon's. Unlike his older brother, sister and parents, Quincy had a stocky build. Finally, Flor had the most unique body feather colour of her family. While her siblings and parents had blue or blue-shade feathers, Flor's feathers were more sea-green, which was an unusual shade of feather colour for a glaucous macaw. Flor's crest was also unlike her family's. While her siblings and parents had feather sheets and/or cowlicks, Flor had a ponytail which she always kept tied back in a vine or bobble. It was possible that somewhere along Pluto or Lapis Lazuli's family line, a macaw would have had a ponytail type crest. Flor had cyan eyes and a slender build. Her name meant 'flower' in Spanish. Blueberry liked art and singing, Charon was more into nature, Quincy liked music and dancing as well and Flor was into science and to a degree, light hearted mischief.

The small flock continued playfully chasing each other and flying through the trees, weaving in and out of the branches. Jupiter and Ruby laughed as Ganymede and Callisto chased Alexandre, Tiago and Bia right past them. Ruby leaned onto Jupiter's shoulder and he leaned onto her crown as they watched their chicks play.

"Well, I guess this is what I would call one big happy friendly, hmm, Ruby?" asked Jupiter.

"Yup," said Ruby, "It sure is."

Venus, Zephyr and Brisa then came in.

"And we're definitely safe from poaching and smuggling, for now," said Venus.

"And from financial problems that almost cost us our home," said Zephyr. Suddenly, a cloud of colourful young birds flew straight past the five. Blu and Jewel looked on as they watched Carla, Bia and Tiago play with their new friends. Jupiter then made a wide smile of mischief and called together the macaw chicks.

"Hey, kids," he cried, "Why don't you jump on Blu over there?"

At this, the cloud of young macaw chicks turned into a cloud of colourful comets as all the chicks apart from Aurora rushed straight for Blu. Blu, at this, widened his eyes and immediately took off before he could be swamped by the three-dozen chicks, among them his own. At this, everyone, including Jewel, Nico, Pedro and Rafael burst out laughing as Blu was then chased by the flock of chicks, his brown eyes wide with shock and slight panic.

"This is just like how my eighteen kids chase our relatives sometimes," said Rafael. Saturn and Orquidea then began to chase after the flock of chicks.

"Get back here, you lot," shouted Saturn playfully. As the two adult blue-and-gold macaws chased the flock of chicks, Jewel, Jupiter, Ruby, Esmeralda and Uranus joined in, followed by the others including Nico, Pedro and Rafael. The entire flock then began to perform acrobats together and then fly on through the jungle.

When Pluto, Mercury and Venus had had their chicks, it had brought tremendous joy to Tulio and his team, for they had fulfilled their goals, one of which was adding more Spix macaws and to give Carla, Bia and Tiago hope for having future mates, another was establishing a Lear's macaw population on the Blu Bird Sanctuary and three, and most important, saving the glaucous macaw species from extinction and giving the macaw species hope in a new generation. However, the project would have been devastated by another factor, financially difficulties threatening to close the Blu Bird Sanctuary. Tulio and Linda had to look for money to actually buy the land or face losing it, and that had caused a worrying time for both the conservationists and the bird residents including Jupiter and his group. However, thanks to Blu and Jewel's heroic efforts, that threat had been averted after Blu and Jewel had lead Tulio and Linda to a cage housing a colony of undiscovered species of bats, one of which was named Basil, providing an opportunity to gain income by studying these bats and thus saving the Sanctuary. However, the project of protecting the Spix, Lear's and glaucous macaws from extinction will not stop here, as the conservationists will have new goals to set and work towards. As for Mercury and Venus who had been smuggled out of Brazil as chicks, they had managed to piece together what actually happened when they were chicks with the help of some of the bird residents, and Zephyr, Brisa and Sapphire and their friends including Jupiter and had been shocked and horrified to hear what had happened. Venus's father Erico had died from a broken neck after the white bird, which was actually Nigel, threw him against the tree trunk while Clarinda had died on the forest floor after being attacked by Nigel. One of Alvin and Marina's offspring, who had been a chick at the time, had told Mercury and Venus this. Furthermore, Venus's sisters, Flo and Izzy, had mysteriously disappeared. They had either been smuggled out of Brazil or had died in the jungle. Mercury's father Thomas had also been killed by Nigel but he had died a more violent death at the clutches of that wicked cockatoo, while Lola was last seen screaming in terror and fleeing, never to be seen again. Mercury's siblings, Chico, Jackie and Ashley were also unaccounted for and were likely dead. Mercury has yet to tell this story to his daughters Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette and also about the paternal grandparents, two uncles and aunt they will never meet, while Venus has yet to tell Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil about their deceased maternal grandparents and two aunts that they will also never meet, and also about their dream of venturing into the Amazon hoping to discover more Spix and Lear's macaws, which seemed viable based on Zephyr, Brisa, Jewel and Sapphire's origins, but the chances of the Spix and Lear's macaw tribes still being alive were slim. Also, these chicks along with the other chicks of Jupiter's group, have yet to hear of the love story between each their parents, how they had to deal with the second group of smugglers especially that violent cat Brutus, and how Pluto and Lapis Lazuli had almost died at that savage cat's clutches had Jupiter not intervened, and also about their parents' history (Jupiter and company being raised in London, Zephyr and company coming from the Amazon). Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Ceres and Pluto certainly had a lot to tell their chicks as soon as they were old enough. For now, they were enjoying the pleasures, and dealing with the challenges parenthood brought, with a new adventure ahead of them waiting!

The end

And that's it; this is the end of my rewrite of Rio 1 and a Half. I am pleased at how well it had turned out, and had allowed me to five a brief introduction to the flying fox colony that will appear much later in 'Attack of the Flying Foxes' and give the Lear's macaw a stronger establishment (in the previous series, they were only introduced in a later story and not Rio One and a Half). From this story's end, begins the adventures of the official movie, 'Rio 2', but only Blu and his family, Rafael, Nico and Pedro make the journey to the Amazon first. In the next story, Jupiter and company apart from Veggie and Dash and their families will be making that same journey. Stay tuned this Rio 2 sequel! VPVPVP