Chapter 70- busted!
The firestorms of the combats between the Paradise Sanctuary humans and the animals and also the caracals and servals of Carnassial's gang and the dingoes were finally quelled and the injured animals were immediately rushed into the treatment area. When Tulio and his team, among them Linda, Fernando, Susan, Lucy and Bernardo, had arrived in Peru on their plane, they had hurried over to the Paradise Sanctuary building and forced their way into said building, despite protests from the workers of the place and their attempts to restrain them. Tulio and company, outrage at the whole so-called 'Paradise Sanctuary' project and what these workers had been doing consuming them like flames, however, just struggled out of the workers' attempts to restrain them and stormed to the artificial jungle floor after demanding where the fruithawks and several other animals were. Then as soon as they had arrived on the floor, they went straight into the artificial jungle despite protests from the workers and their threats of calling in security.
As they entered the jungle, Susan and Lucy and some of the other humans on Tulio's team took to collecting Carla, Bia, Tiago, D'Artagnan, Aurora, Aramis, Jasmine, Levi and the rest of Blu's group including the missing kids, among them Sirius, Spica and Bellatrix, Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine, Acerola and Eragon in cages brought with them after sharing a joyful reunion with them, while Tulio, Linda and Fernando and the rest of the gang, some of them armed with net guns, hurried into the Compartment of the Carnivores especially after discovering the absence of Blu, Jewel, Athos and the pair of golden fruithawks among the animals in Dundee's compartment. Then as soon as the group had spotted Gylfie and Aurum as they relentlessly clawed and bit some of the workers of the Paradise Sanctuary, Tulio commanded the net gun owners to shoot them down, which they did with the nets while Linda hurried off to find Blu, Jewel and Athos where she discovered that the former Spix macaw and a flying fox pup were pinned under Carnassial. Seized by rage, Linda had snatched a nearby stick and went at Carnassial like an enraged mother bear and had swiped the caracal off of Blu and Sandalwood. After this, Linda began to launch several more strikes at the caracal to drive him further away from Blu, at one point catching Carnassial's bloodied and clawed face and making him screech as the impact of the stick on his wounds made them shoot agony explosively through his injured areas. Then after one final strike to the face by Linda, Carnassial finally admitted surrender and retreated, his painful wounds and damaged eye, inflicted on him by Jewel, telling him to stop, Linda, a smug look on her face in rescuing her beloved macaw companion and the flying fox pup, lacing her face, though she did feel a flash of regret at viciously attacking Carnassial for hurting animals was never in her nature but if they were a threat to any of her animal friends, least of all Blu or his family, then she would resort to driving the threat away. After she had driven Carnassial away, she then turned her attention to Blu, Jewel, Athos, Augustus and Sandalwood and when she saw Athos's broken wing, horror tore through her and she had called to Tulio.
"Tulio, Athos's got an injured WING!" called she as Jewel and Augustus supported Athos whose left wing, its bony part kinked due to the fracture, hanging limply to the side and the scarlet macaw's face twisted in extreme pain from the injury, while Sandalwood and Blu looked on.
Sometime later
Outside the 'Paradise Sanctuary' building, Blu and company stood in their cages in which Tulio and company had placed them and left them in the care of some of the group members of their team, among them Linda, Susan, Lucy and Fernando, while Tulio and the others confronted the 'Paradise Sanctuary' workers and their boss over their illegal work which has now been brought out of the darkness of the conservation façade and into the light. Blu's group were placed carefully into cages, arranged by family. Blu, Jewel, Aurora, Carla, Bia and Tiago were in one cage with Sirius (Bia's son), Spica (the daughter of Carla) and Bellatrix (Tiago's daughter) while Kira, Achernar and Polaris were in another cage. The Spix macaws were under the care of Linda who sat by and checked on them.
Next to the Spix macaws, in some more cages were D'Artagnan with his daughter Jasmine her and Finn's chicks Regulus and Vega in one cage; Spinel, Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares, and Poinsettia, Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine in another cage; Aramis, Benjamin, Aldebaran and Altair in a third; Levi, Trixie, Aiden, Neytiri, Tristan and Arcturus, Katniss and Canopus together in a fourth; Phoebe, Indigo, Victor and Sugilite in a fifth cage which was large to accommodate their size; and Frodo, Ellie and Sylvester the Cuban macaws, Spyro, Eragon and Bambi the archaeobirds, Sebastian, Acerola, Stella, Luna, Soren, Sandalwood and Augustus the flying foxes, and Lillie and Gladion the toucan chicks were in two cages of their own. Lucy was looking after these animals and she checked on them as well. Benjamin had recovered from his strike by Carnassial and was glad to be going home at last. Athos and Finn, however, were absent for they had been taken to a nearby animal hospital by one of Tulio's assistants for emergency surgery on Athos's broken wing and to place Finn's wing back into its joint, and Tulio's group will not leave until those two birds were out of surgery and were back with Blu's group. And though some of the members of Blu's group, such as Augustus, Soren, Stella and Luna hated cages, they are glad to be in the safe hands of the trusted humans, and the flying foxes and Eragon, Spyro and Bambi had developed trust in Tulio's group thanks to the intro of them given to them and Andromeda, Melissa, Sebastian, Anabelle and Ferdinand back in Rio by Blu and company.
As Blu's group sat in their cages with the pair of the golden fruithawks in their own cage nearby, the complete families, such as Victor, Sugilite and Indigo, finally reunited and the divided families like Carla, Bia and Tiago and their respective chicks Spica, Sirius and Bellatrix looking forward to reuniting with their other family members waiting for them in Rio, and also Acerola looking forward to seeing her parents Sebastian and Anabelle and her brother Ferdinand and Gladion and Lillie looking forward to seeing their parents Diantha and Tom, some of the chicks, among them Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares and also Sandalwood and Acerola, glared at the gathering of humans a short distance away. The gathering was two groups, one made from Tulio and the rest of his members and the other, the workers of the Paradise Sanctuary and their boss. Rigel squinted at Tulio's face to get a better view of the firestorm of outrage on his face as he yelled at the boss of the Paradise Sanctuary about the theft of the golden fruithawks and some other important things, among them what these people had been doing. As Spinel and Sheldon's younger daughter continued to glaze at Tulio with her sister and brother, Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine, looks of smugness lacing their faces, walked in, as did Poinsettia, their scarlet mother. Spinel also gazed at the confrontation.
"Those so-called 'conservationists' are now finally getting their comeuppance for stealing those golden fruithawks among other things," said Poinsettia with absolutely no surprise at all at Tulio's fury as he continued to bellow at the Paradise Sanctuary group.
"That group of humans certainly are in trouble now, aren't they, Mom?" said Adenine with a frown. Spinel put a firm wing on his shoulder, making him flinch slightly.
"No, my nephew," said the pink-red macaw and Betelgeuse and her siblings' mother firmly, "Those humans are in BIG trouble."
"Yes, absolutely," said Poinsettia in agreement. The seven chicks just exchanged glances and resumed watching Tulio as he continued to yell at the Paradise Sanctuary group with their mothers.
Among the Spix macaws, Aurora sat in one corner of the cage, worry lacing her face. She was especially concerned for Athos and Finn who had been rushed to the hospital to have their injuries fixed.
"I sure hope Athos and Finn are okay," said the pigtailed Spix macaw. Blu gazed at her.
"That caracal has done him some damage to his wing, you know," he said. Aurora looked up at him as Jewel joined Blu to explain more on Athos's situation.
"That savage wildcat threw him against a rock stack and one of the smaller rocks fell from the large one and crushed his wing," she explained. Carla, Bia, Tiago, Spica, Bellatrix and Sirius all jolted from the pain Athos must have faced in that predicament.
"It must have been extremely painful," said Bia through a clenched beak.
"It sounds reminiscent of Grandma Jewel's situation when that horrible Nigel crushed her wing with a cage," said Sirius and with that, he gazed at Jewel who had to agree on this. Athos's situation was eerily similar to what she had been through on that plane during the final face-off against the wicked Nigel. Both Nigel and Carnassial had Blu pinned to the floor and both tried to jump at the villains to get them to release Blu only for them to fling them away leading to the two getting their wings crushed (Jewel's wing by a cage, Athos's wing by a rock). Carla then breathed a sigh.
"Uncle Athos's gonna be grounded for a few months then until his wing heals enough for him to be able to fly again," she said sadly.
"So will several other injured birds like Gladion over there," put in Tiago as he gazed at the toucan chick as he stood with Frodo and the others in their cages, his gaze on his bandaged wing, a souvenir he had received from the savage Dalek the chameleon when he tried to rescue some of the macaw chicks from his clutches the other day. While Gladion continued to gaze at his wing, the flying foxes in one of the cages adjacent to Eragon and company were discussing a number of plans when they get back to Rio. Augustus, Stella, Luna and Soren were talking about teaching Sandalwood to fly again while Sandalwood and Acerola looked forward to returning to their home of Brazil where they belonged.
"You nervous about going on a plane, Sandy?" asked Acerola. Sandalwood just gazed at her.
"I'm just glad to be out of that miserable place of a false 'sanctuary' and back with our relatives and eventually our other relatives back in Rio," he replied, his glare on the building, the Paradise Sanctuary building, in the background behind Tulio and his team and the workers. Sandalwood then breathed a sigh and sent his mind into a recollection of the events that had happened over the past few days including his bravery in the rescue of Carla, Bia, Tiago, Jasmine, Aiden and Finn from Carnassial and his gang and the confrontations with Dalek and his disappearance. According to Kiara, Herbert and the other animals that had chased that chameleon to the window, the chameleon was last seen on that window's ledge and all the chimps found of him was his namesake alien top-like hat, implying that the chameleon might have met his demise. But amongst the relief that the chameleon was gone, Sandalwood felt sympathy for Dundee and his community and all the other animals, the Compartment of the Carnivore animals included, that they had been part of a rare animal collection under the guise of conservation. With a sigh escaping his mouth, Sandalwood wrapped his wings around his legs and gazed at the cage floor. As he did so, Augustus came in with Stella, Luna and Soren.
"Don't worry, grandson; we'll be heading back to Rio once our true human friends have dealt with those so-called human environment carers," said Augustus, his gaze on the Paradise Sanctuary workers as they flinched and gazed timidly at the furious Tulio as he continued to bombard them with furious words. Then another thought came into Sandalwood's head, but it made him flinch.
"Grandpa," said the little amber bat pup.
"Yes, Sandalwood," said Augustus.
"Will I HAVE to learn to fly when we return to Rio?" asked Sandalwood nervously. Stella, Luna, Soren and Acerola gazed at Augustus who flashed them a glance and returned to gaze to Sandalwood.
"Well, you've made a start in learning to fly again by scaling elevated climbs like on a tree trunk," said he with a smile, "and you've also taken your first few flaps in the air," Sandalwood managed a small smile at this achievement, but that faded as Stella stepped in.
"But you've got one last obstacle to overcome," she said to her son.
"And what's that?" asked Sandalwood nervously. However, what Soren said made worry well within him again.
"Taking off from an overhang and into the air," said his father. Sandalwood shot his dad an alarmed look.
"We're sorry, my nephew," said Luna in agreement, "But we bats cannot lift ourselves into the air from the ground like how most birds can. We must leap off a drop in order to catch air under our wings."
This sent shivers down Sandalwood's spine, especially the thought of standing on the edge of a branch or a manmade rooftop before a large drop. Then flashes of his ordeal at the clutches of Isabella and her siblings and friends began to boil within his mind again and the little flying fox began to emit terrified whimpers and murmurs and cover his head with his wings and began to shiver, especially as the world around him ascended in his mind and he felt his wings bound to his sides, tied there by strong vines. As he did that, Augustus, Stella, Soren, Luna and Acerola exchanged worried gazes while Frodo looked on from an adjacent cage, Sylvester in his wings.
"That fear of heights and flying is still present within him," whispered Sylvester worriedly.
"I thought he would have overcome his fear of those things during our time in that so-called sanctuary by now," said Bambi nearby.
"Maybe he's yet to face the REAL challenge?" asked Sylvester, "Actually LEARNING to drop from an overhang to open his wings to fly as all flying foxes have to do?"
"We'll have to deal with that when we return to Rio," said Frodo in a low voice to his son and Bambi. The two just flashed the adult Cuban macaw a worried look and then gazed back at Sandalwood as he continued to cower on the cage floor and shiver, the comforting wings of Augustus, Stella, Luna and Soren on his back and Acerola hugging him and whispering assuring words to him to calm his shaking nerves down.
Just then, Eragon and Spyro noticed some animals walk in.
"Hey look, it's some of the strange animals from the false sanctuary place," said the former. Frodo, Bambi, Sylvester and also Lillie, Gladion and the flying foxes all looked up through their cage bars and saw a small group of a variety of some of the animals from Dundee's group approach them. Among them were Reepicheep the platypus, Kiara the echidna; Sparky, Gus and Lilo the cockatiels, Harakeke and Flax the kiwis; Shade and Sadie the grey-headed flying foxes and their daughter Connie, Roxanne the galah, and Steven and the remainder of his family: his mother Sardonyx, father Greg and brother Kevin, and also Atreyu the emperor penguin chick and JD the macaroni penguin chick, Lusamine the Madagascan Livingston's flying fox and one of her spider monkey friends, Guzma. As these almost twenty animals approached Sandalwood and the others in the two cages, Sandalwood snapped out of his nervous state and rose to his feet.
"Connie, Steven," he said with surprise, "Lusamine, Guzma, Atreyu, the rest of you, what are you guys doing here?"
As he said this, Kiara the echidna who led the group brought the newcomers to a stop once they were close to the two cages.
"We've come to say our final goodbyes, both from ourselves and on the behalf of Dundee and the other animals, before you depart to um… Real was it?" said the echidna.
"It's Rio," said Augustus.
"That's it," said Kiara.
"We hope you have a safe trip," said Reepicheep before his gaze turned to Sandalwood, Acerola and then to Gladion, Lillie, Sylvester and Bambi, gratefulness entering his gaze, "And we'd like to thank you kids and the rest of your friends for helping us to deal with Dalek and also uncover our so-called human carers' true intentions in collecting us animals as well…" the strange mammal's glare and duck beak-like bill then snapped back at the Paradise Sanctuary workers, a look of outrage flaring with his gaze, "And I sure hope those pathetic excuses for carers will learn something as well. What they've been doing has been an absolute disgrace…"
"Um, actually, Reepicheep," said Guzma, promting the platypus to direct his gaze at him, "I saw the facial looks of some of the workers and they looked ashamed…"
"Maybe they were aware what their group was doing was wrong all along?" asked Sardonyx. Guzma didn't answer but replied with a timid nod.
"Well if that is the case," squeaked Lillie as she stood with Gladion, "I wouldn't be surprised."
The animals then all flashed another glance at Tulio as he continued yelling at the Paradise Sanctuary animals, obviously smashing through EVERY possible excuse the boss of the Paradise Sanctuary group could concoct, and shook their heads. After this, Lusamine stepped over to Sandalwood and Acerola. As she approached the two cousins, Acerola took up a defensive stance but Lusamine kept her calm facial look.
"I hope you're not gonna mock us again, are you?" growled Acerola suspiciously. Stella, Luna, Augustus and Soren exchanged glances and shrugged. Sandalwood also glared at Lusamine with a fierce look.
"No, I wasn't," said the Livingstone's flying fox calmly, "I have come to say thank you and sorry for being so mean to you during your first few days here."
Acerola and Sandalwood's fierce looks gave way to surprise and they gazed at each other. In the other cage, Lillie, Gladion, Bambi and Sylvester also shot Lusamine a surprised look. Then Lusamine went up to Sandalwood and held out her wing.
"Furthermore, Sandalwood," said she, "I don't think you're an utter coward."
"Certainly not after dealing with that horrible Dalek and his caracal and serval friends," put in Guzma. Beside him, Connie, Roxanne, Atreyu, Sparky, JD, Gus and Lilo also looked on with surprise. Sandalwood gazed at Lusamine's outstretched wing and slowly raised his wing and interlocked it with hers. The two bats then did a quick wing-shake and shared a smile each before Lusamine finally separated her wing from Sandalwood's, did a wing-shake with Acerola and then left to do the same to Gladion and the other chicks. Connie looked on.
"Well, that was unexpected," she said.
"Yes," said Atreyu in agreement, "It seems that Lusamine and her group have finally had a change of heart."
He then gazed at Sandalwood, Gladion, the others with them in the two cages and then at the rest of Blu's group in the other cages as well and sighed. When he saw the emperor penguin chick do this, Greg stepped forwards to Kiara. An idea had entered his head based on the emperor penguin's desire to leave the Paradise Sanctuary.
"Kiara," said the scarlet macaw.
"Yes," said Kiara. Greg's face fell as Sardonyx, Steven and Kevin walked up to him, the same looks appearing on their faces. JD, Atreyu, Roxanne and Connie did the same, much to Sadie and Shade's surprise.
"I would like to go with those Rio animals," said Greg, his gaze on Sandalwood and the others, "Me and my family."
"So do I," said Atreyu. JD nodded in agreement, as did Connie and Roxanne. Surprised looks came upon the faces of Reepicheep, Kiara, Sparky, Gus, Lilo, Harakeke, Flax, Shade, Sadie, Guzma and also Lusamine as she returned from saying her goodbyes to Sirius and the other kids of Blu's group.
"But Greg," said Flax.
"You don't know Brazil for one and you belong with us for another," said Harakeke.
"Yes, you've been living with us for many years," added Gus. Sparky and Lilo nodded in agreement. However, sombre looks came upon the faces of Greg and his mate and two sons. From their cages, Eragon, Spyro, Frodo, Augustus, Stella, Luna and Soren looked on.
"That is true," said Greg, "But after learning of the intentions of those human 'carers' which we now know to be rare animal collectors, we feel that we don't belong here anymore."
"Furthermore," said Steven, his gaze on Sandalwood and company, "We have made friends with those Rio animals, especially the red and half-red macaws," his nod was directed to Betelgeuse and company in their cage with Poinsettia and Spinel.
"And Connie with Sandalwood and Acerola," put in Kevin as he gazed at Connie as she looked at Sandalwood longingly. Sadie and Shade also saw this longing gaze in their daughter's eyes as they remained locked on the young Brazilian flying fox pup. Sardonyx then stepped in.
"In addition," she said, "The Paradise Sanctuary, or should I call it, the Paradise of Animal Collectors, has become laced with bad memories, especially after what happened to Lars, our oldest son."
A pang of pity flashed through Frodo, Eragon, Spyro, Augustus, Stella, Luna and Soren when they heard Sardonyx say this.
"Those two scarlet macaws have lost a chick?" whispered Soren.
"Yes, Dad," said Sandalwood, "That same caracal ate him while he was chasing me and Sirius and allowed just to get away."
Stella shot her son a horrified gaze but said nothing. Then Atreyu made a frown toward the kiwis, the cockatiels, Kiara and Reepicheep.
"And I have my own personal reasons as well," he said, "Such as feeling out of place in that building, and how I feel so lost and faded without my real biological family…"
"And as for us two, we feel like we don't belong here either," put in JD. Roxanne nodded in agreement. As the macaroni penguin spoke, from the Spix macaws' group, Achernar and Polaris watched through the bars of their cage while Kira talked with Blu and the others with him in their cage.
After hearing Greg and the other seven animals' request to leave with Blu's group and their desire for this lacing their voices, Kiara began to enter thought. After thinking, she said, "I'll discuss this with Dundee. I don't think he might agree with that since that means that you eight will be entering the world of the unknown."
Greg, Sardonyx, Steven, Connie, Kevin, JD, Atreyu and Roxanne gazed at the echidna hopefully as she turned to the three cockatiels and told them to alert Dundee of the eight animals' request to leave with Blu's group. Gus, Sparky and Lilo nodded and lofted into flight to look for Dundee. Lusamine looked on with surprise as Guzma came in.
"Well, a lot of nasty things has happened, my flying fox friend," said the rare spider monkey before his gaze landed on Connie as she discussed her desire to go with Sandalwood with Shade and Sadie, her parents, as well as Atreyu as he talked with Greg and Sardonyx, "And after all, that emperor penguin misses his Antarctic land, colony and family anyway."
"I deeply regret making fun of his ordeal in almost getting drowned in that fishing net leading to his bringing to here as well, Guzma," said Lusamine. Guzma breathed a sigh and nodded in agreement, regret also welling within him.
While Blu and company continued to wait for Tulio and his team with some of the latter's team members, among them Linda, watching over them, to finish their confrontation with the Paradise Sanctuary workers and also for Athos and Finn's return after surgery, Tulio continued to unleash his furious lambasts and searing comments at the Paradise Sanctuary's workers and boss about the subject of conservation and how the latter group of humans had been using it as an excuse to collect animals. Flanking Tulio, some of his team members, among them Francisco, also wore thunderous looks as their eyes bore into the collectors-disguised-as-conservationists. Not too far away, Dundee and a number of other animals watched on.
"I cannot BELIEVE that you lot would use the façade of conservation to cover up your REAL intentions of collecting rare animals for your own personal gain," these words practically flew from Tulio's mouth like an ash plume from an erupting volcano, "What kind of AUDACITY do you lot have to do such a thing!?"
"Especially with the theft of the world's only two golden fruithawks from our aviary back in Rio against our wishes," put in Francisco furiously. The Paradise Sanctuary boss tried to hide his fright with an innocent smile but his fear at Tulio and his team's fury at him and his group was enough to splinter his sentences.
"W-w-we were o-o-only c-c-collecting a v-v-variety of… of-of en-endangered… an-an-animals f-f-f-for…" however, under his attempts to conceal his guilt, he knew full well that he had no excuse. He and his team's intentions have been uncovered and brought to the light. Tulio's thunderous look remained on his face.
"For what!?" shouted he, "For your OWN personal collection and to SHOW OF TO THE PUBLIC!?"
The boss and his group flinched harshly as Tulio practically screeched these words at them. The boss tried to make another futile excuse to cover up this aim but Tulio swept on.
"Animals are NOT things to collect," shouted the head of the Rio Animal and Bird Conservation team, "They are NOT to be treated like very rare rocks or other collectibles. They are LIVING and BREATHING CREATURES that should be TREATED WITH RESPECT, ALONG WITH THEIR NATURAL HABITATS!"
Tulio's workers nodded in agreement. In the background, Dundee and company watched on.
"Those humans are for it now," whispered Olympia the cassowary to Dundee and Nick, referring to the Paradise Sanctuary group, "Especially now that their real intentions have been unveiled…"
Dundee, Nick and the other animals didn't reply and continued watching the confrontation. Then Francisco came forward from Tulio's group.
"And to top it all off, calling the collecting of rare animals for your own personal gain CONSERVATION, especially through the hiring of poachers to nab them from their natural habitat, is borderline DIABOLICAL, CRIMINAL and INSIDIOUS!" he snarled.
"Not to mention the fact that you called your collector's den a 'PARADISE SANCTUARY'!" added another of Tulio's workers, a woman named Amy. The Paradise Sanctuary boss shuddered at this revelation and tried to make another futile excuse to cover this up.
"B-b-b-but we were o-o-o-only w-w-w-working to preserve th-th-these animals…" he said but Tulio shook his head.
"No, conservation is about PROTECTING rare animals and their ENVIRONMENT and HABITATS," he snapped, "NOT poaching them as though they are mere collectible items."
"And besides that, TRUE conservationists would NEVER EVER hire poachers to steal animals from their natural habitat like how YOU lot did," put in one of Tulio's female workers.
"B-b-b-but what about those Spix, glaucous and Lear's macaws that you found years and years ago?" asked the boss of the Paradise Sanctuary, "Wasn't that catching them from the environment? If so, wouldn't that be a bit…" the man's face formed a small smirk, "hypocritical?"
"That was different," snapped Tulio, "At the time, those Spix and glaucous macaws were the last KNOWN individuals of their species and we wanted to make sure that they could breed to preserve their species."
As he said this, Blu gazed at Jewel and Aurora.
"I remember Tulio and company's aim to breed us to help save our species, but of course we weren't ready back then," said he. Jewel just put on an agreeing frown.
"Quite right," she said, "It was only a matter of patience Tulio and company had to have until we're ready to have chicks."
Aurora just shrugged while Sirius, Spica and Bellatrix in Carla, Bia and Tiago's wings looked on curiously.
"Where did our Grandpas and Grandmas meet?" asked Sirius. Bia hushed at him.
"We'll show you when we return to Rio, son, and reunite with your brothers, father and the others," she said. Sirius, Bellatrix and Spica just exchanged glances and shrugged and resumed watching the confrontation between Tulio and his team and the Paradise Sanctuary group.
"As for the Lear's macaws, since that female that we found near Rio was the only one of her species we knew at the time in that part of Brazil along with a male that we found in the care of some humans from across the Atlantic Ocean," continued Tulio, obviously referring to Sapphire and then to D'Artagnan who had been under the care of Susan, Lucy and their triplet cousins Blake, Drake and Jake for well over ten years since he and Aurora had been smuggled out of Brazil and to Europe, "We wanted to help establish a population of breeding Lear's macaws on the Blu Bird Sanctuary to assist in the conservation of that critically endangered species as well."
As he said this, D'Artagnan just shrugged as Jasmine, Rrgulus and Vega looked on, curiosity welling within them.
"Across the Atlantic Ocean?" squeaked Vega.
"Your grandpa used to live in a city called London in the European country called the UK," said Jasmine. Regulus and Vega's beaks widened into a smile in fascination as D'Artagnan gazed at the pair.
"I'll tell you more of our lives in that country when we get back to Rio," said he. The brother and sister felt excitement bubble within them as they looked forward to learning more about their grandfather's time as Susan and Lucy's pet in England.
"We NEVER had collecting those rare macaws as though they are collector's items to show off in mind," continued Tulio, "We only had conserving their species in mind when we captured some of those macaws from the wild when we found them."
"But as for YOU lot," continued Francisco, making the Paradise Sanctuary boss and his team flinch, "YOU were only merely collecting those animals for your own gain and for flaunting without a sliver of CARE about their wellbeing."
This statement made guilt well within some of the Paradise Sanctuary workers and their faces fell. Then one of them shot the boss a disgusted look.
"You told us that you were conserving those animals," growled she.
"You never said anything, at ALL, about those animals being a personal collection OR about poaching them from their natural habitats around the world for that collection," added another. The boss's face, especially his cheeks, flushed to a deep red colour, as red as the feathers of Poinsettia and the other red macaws, the shame and guilt forcing blood into those areas. Then one of the workers flashed a guilt-laced glance at the two fruithawks among the caged birds to be taken back to Rio a short distance away and drooped his eyebrows and mouth.
"We should have phoned the Rio conservationists about those golden fruithawks had we known about how they were brought here in the first place," whispered the man to some of his fellow workers who nodded in agreement, the same guilt-laced look mirroring that of the speaker's face. Tulio then continued.
"So that brings us to one big conclusion," he said to the Paradise Sanctuary group, "You lot have been lying to everyone about your so-called conservation work. You have lied to the public by saying to them that you have rescued those animals from poachers when in fact you have hired those poachers to catch them; you have lied to the scientific community about your collection and to top it all off, you have stained the name of animal conservation…"
The boss had nothing to say as his leg muscles began to feel like jelly and struggle to support his weight and his face turned an ever deeper red. Hot flushes surged through his body and he began to feel weak. Some of his workers also began to feel sickened; some of their faces turning pale as the blood drained from their facial skins and one of them even swayed and then fainted as the overwhelming shock overtook her. She had to be caught some of her workmates and gently lowered to the floor.
From their cages, Blu and company watched on, unsurprised looks on their faces.
"We rest our case," growled Adenine as he glared at the Paradise Sanctuary group. Around him and his family and their cage, the other macaws and animals also glared on with agreeing faces but the Paradise Sanctuary group's confrontation was not over yet. Tulio then hardened his thunderous glare.
"I have sent one of my employees to phone the authorities to place you lot under arrest for…" he said when suddenly, a voice came in.
"Tulio, sir," said Susan, pulling Tulio's attention to her as she walked in with a mobile phone (also called a cellphone), "It's Tomas and his team in the Sanctuary de Amazon headquarters and they have something to say about those poachers that have intruded into that nature reserve and the one in Rio."
Tulio took the phone and began to speak to Tomas who was making the call.
"Ola, Tomas," said he as Susan backed away, a frown on her face. As he began to speak to his employee and his team in Brazil, the Paradise Sanctuary boss and his team began to listen in. From Blu's group in their cages, Indigo in Phoebe's cage undid the slide lock, opened the door and flew out in the direction of Tulio and some of his team members as the former began to speak on the phone, much to the others' alarm.
"Indigo!" cried Phoebe but then Victor saw what Indigo wanted to do.
"I believe she knows who is making the call, Phoebe," said Victor. Phoebe gazed at her son-in-law and abandoned going after Indigo. As Indigo hovered close to Tulio, making sure that none of the humans saw her, Sugilite looked on.
"What's Mom doing, Dad, and Grandma?" she asked Victor and Phoebe.
"She's listening on the conversation between Tulio and the caller on that cellphone, daughter," said Victor.
"Yes, one of his colleagues back in Brazil," said Phoebe. Sugilite then gazed at her mother as she continued to listen in on Tulio and Tomas' phone call. As she did that, Victor turned and gazed at the two fruithawks in their own cage and in the hands of one of Tulio's workers who had opted to look after the birds and flying foxes and saw that Gylfie and Aurum were talking to each other.
"Hey, Phoebe, guys," he said, "It seems that those two fruit-eating birds of prey have warmed up to each other."
Phoebe and also Aramis and Benjamin, together with Sugilite, Altair and Aldebaran gazed at the two golden fruithawks as well.
"Well, that's a good sign," said Aramis at the positivity of the two fruithawks' interaction, "They're showing no signs of hostility to each other at all."
"Are they the very last known pair of their species in the ENTIRE world?" asked Altair.
"Apparently so," said Aldebaran.
"Yes they are," said Tristan in the glaucous macaws' cage, "and it seems that those fraudulent 'conservationists' wanted those two fruithawks to be part of their collection."
"Alongside some breeding pairs of Spix, glaucous, Cuban red and Lear's macaws, archaeobirds and some other rare species from Brazil," put in Aramis with a disgusted glare. Just then the sounds of wing-flaps alerted the group.
"Well, well, that concludes it," said Indigo as she touched down, entered her family's massive cage, shut the door and locked it, smugness saturating her voice and facial glare, "Those poachers, along with their pet dogs and crows, caught on both the Sanctuary de Amazon in the Amazon Rainforest AND the Blu Bird Sanctuary are workers of those Paradise Sanctuary conservation fraudsters," her glare then hardened, "And you should have seen the reaction of that group of humans as well."
Phoebe and the others glared at the Paradise Sanctuary group and saw that all of them, including the boss were now all trembling like jelly figures, clearly flooded with stress at finally being busted. Their breathing had accelerated and some of them were shooting timid glances in various directions as though they wanted to run for it. Tomas' call from Brazil about the poachers that had intruded into the Blu Bird and Amazon sanctuaries and the information Tomas and his team, and the team in Rio, had gathered from the poachers through interrogation was the final nail in the coffin for the Paradise Sanctuary's work. Tulio then began to tell the group that the authorities will be alerted and that their fraudulent 'conservation' work, and the group itself, will be placed under arrest for a variety of crimes, such as hiring poachers to steal animals from the environment and protected reserves, lying to the public and scientific community and for fraud.
Later
The authorities have been alerted of the Paradise Sanctuary's crimes and police and other authority groups have come to the place and have closed off the building. As for the workers, they had been placed under arrest. The animals that had spent so long living in this fake sanctuary were seized by conservationists (REAL conservationists that is), and will be sent back to the countries from which they came. Athos and Finn's surgery on their wing and shoulder had been finally complete and the two macaws had been returned to Tulio from the animal hospital to be returned to Brazil and looked after in Tulio's Aviary until they recovered.
As Tulio and company, their job done in uncovering the Paradise Sanctuary's dark work, packed Blu and company and the two fruithawks into the cargo bay of the plane to prepare to return to Rio, amongst the cages still to be packed, Sandalwood clung onto the bars of his cage and gazed at the animals that had lived on the Paradise Sanctuary as they were sorted into their country destination by the real Peruvian conservationists in preps for conservationists from those countries to come and collect them, and picked out Dundee, Nick, Olympia, Mina and her Tasmanian devil group, Flax, Harakeke and the other kiwis, the kakapos, Reepicheep and his platypus relatives and Kiara and her echidna relatives who were destined to be returned to Australia and New Zealand where they belonged. Sandalwood's gaze was laced with sadness for this departure was likely to be the last time he and the other kids including Sirius, Spica and Bellatrix will ever see Dundee and the others before they were taken away. As he continued gazing at Dundee and company, Augustus came in.
"Still saddened at departing from your new friends, eh, Sandy?" asked his grandpa. Sandalwood pulled his gaze from Dundee and company and moved it to Augustus.
"Yeah," he said, "I'm gonna miss them."
Augustus's mouth widened into a comforting smile and his wing went to cloak Sandalwood's back.
"Well, it's for the better for those animals, grandson," he said; "Their place is in the countries from which they came. However, there are a few of them that have decided to come with us to Rio…"
And with that, Augustus nodded to three of the cages nearby. Sandalwood followed his grandfather's gaze and saw that the cage contained some animals that were from the Paradise Sanctuary place. Among them were, to the surprise of Sandalwood, Connie, Roxanne, Atreyu, JD and some of the other penguins, and some of the macaws that were native to Brazil, among them Sardonyx, Greg, Steven and Kevin who had Connie and Roxanne in their wings. The latter four had sneaked Connie and Roxanne into their cage so that Tulio and his team would not notice that a grey-headed flying fox and a galah had hitched a ride to go with Sandalwood and company back to Brazil. Sandalwood flashed a small smile as he saw Connie look up at him from under Sardonyx's wings and waved to him before retreating back under Greg's mate's wing to hide as Susan came round to check on the additional animals.
Shade and Sadie had been reluctant to allow Connie to go with Blu's group but after much persuasion from their daughter, especially her desire to go with Sandalwood back to Brazil and at Dundee's urging they ultimately relented. Connie went with Greg and his family while Sade and Sadie were packed into a cage with the other grey-headed bats but not before sharing an emotional goodbye to their daughter as this will be the last time they see each other. As Sandalwood gazed at Susan as she examined Greg and his family and some of the other macaws with him, he slid down from the cage bars and onto the cage floor, gladness welling within him that he was finally going back to Brazil. However, he was still nervous about the thought of learning to fly properly, especially at the thought of having to drop into the air as flying foxes had to do to get airborne. As these thoughts preyed on his mind and as he turned with Augustus to return to Stella, Luna, Soren and Acerola's side, Sandalwood thought he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye through the bars of the cage adjacent to the one he had been peering out at Connie and the others. Curious, the flying fox pup's eyes darted to the direction of the movement but as his eyes landed on where he thought he saw the movement, he saw nothing except one of the spider monkeys being guided by two conservationists into a large cage with two other monkeys.
"Sandalwood?" asked Augustus's voice. Sandalwood snapped out of his gaze and eyed Augustus.
"Oh, nothing, Grandpa," said he, "Just getting one last glimpse of those strange animals before we leave."
Augustus smiled and told his grandson to return to the other four bats, especially as one of Tulio's workers, Tulio's own wife Linda, came along to pick up the cage they were in. However, Sandalwood flashed one last glance at the area where he saw the movement as the cage was lifted off the ground and carried to the plane's cargo bay. Uncertainty gnawed at him.
'Surely it was that spider monkey that made that movement?' he thought. Pushing aside this thought, Sandalwood turned to talk to Stella and Soren as Linda carried them away.
As Linda disappeared into the cargo bay with Sandalwood and the other flying foxes with him, Fernando following with the cage containing the Spix macaws, something peered out from behind a crate and glared at Tulio and his team, especially at Blu and company and the other parrots. As soon as Fernando had disappeared into the cargo bay of the plane to pack Blu and the others with the already-packed caged animals and the backs of the other humans and animals were turned, the something moved from behind the crate, quickly rushed through the clearing towards one of the boxes being packed by Tulio's team, heading straight towards the one that was still open. Then as soon as it was near the box, the something latched onto the side, quickly clambered up to the rim of the box and dived inside it, moments before Lucy appeared and placed the lid of the box over its opening, unaware that something had climbed into it. Then as soon as she had placed the box's lid over its opening, Lucy picked up the box and left with it for the cargo bay.