Rio 1 and a Half

by VPVPVP

Blue macaws Aurora, Sirius and Milo and Amazon flying fox Ahsoka must pair up with Zephyr, Samara, Celeste and Orion respectively to save their species. However, they must face a second band of smugglers and their pets lead by the violent swan Vecna together with the canonical Rio gang including Blu and his family before they are captured for the pet trade.

39. Epilogue 1

Chapter 39- epilogue part 1

Months later

Tijuca Forest was alive with song and colourful forms dancing in the space between the tree canopy and also on the trees' branches and in hollows. Various birds and a few bats danced in the air and on the branches while primates and other arboreal animals simply danced on the branches, some even using instruments like sticks to beat logs to add percussive sounds to the music. Among the dancing birds in the air, a group of certain birds flew along and also danced. Rafael and Eva appeared first and did an aerial spin while holding wings before flying on. Behind them, their 20-plus half toco, half-keel-billed offspring followed. Among them were three fledgling chicks and the latest three additions to Rafael and Eva's offspring, bringing the total of Rafael and Eva's chick to 28 chicks. Some of their older offspring such as Marco, Sofia, Manoela, Rita and Carlos, were on the cusp of adulthood and so were due to leave the nest and start their own lives. Some of these soon-to-be young adult toucans had even started dating young toucans living in the forest and Rafael and Eva looked forward to becoming grandparents once their oldest sons and daughters paired up and set to having their own chicks and they looked forward to a huge bushel of grandchildren. Some of their offspring such as Diantha, however loathed the thought of having so many kids at once though she wanted to start a family of her own one day as well. Additionally, Rafael and Eva had planned to have, yet AGAIN, ANOTHER clutch of eggs to make the most of their remaining reproductive years, especially Eva. Eventually, they, especially Eva, will soon approach the end of their chick-bearing years. The massive toucan family continued to dance and then moved on as Nico and Pedro appeared; beatboxing and also dancing with Nico using his bottle-cap hat as a tambourine.

While Rafael and his big family continued to dance and Nico and Pedro continued to sing, Blu and Jewel and their chicks Carla, Bia and Tiago appeared and flew about the colourful patterns formed by the dancing birds and few bats. The couple's chicks played together with Tiago chasing his sisters.

"Hey, wait for me, sissies," called the cheeky young male macaw lad.

"Then ya gonna have to fly faster to catch us, bro," called Carla and with that, she and Bia rocketed off with Tiago in pursuit to the amusement of their parents and they began to pursue them as well. Blu and Jewel's chicks had grown over the past few months and were no longer almost identical in body shape. Their physical traits had become more developed as had their hobbies and personalities. Carla's feathers had become a brighter cerulean and she had developed a chubby build. Her wing and tail topsides were a darker cerulean and her eyes had become a brighter green and her crest had developed into a similar shape as Jewel's. She had an unusual colour for her facial features; they were a darker blue patch around each eye and a band over the beak. Carla had become more and more into music and dancing and she often carried an Ipad with earphones around. She was also a talented singer and dancer and was very confident, at times sassy and at times a show-off as well. Bia had developed a slender build with a sigmoid pose. She, too, was a lot more cerulean than she had been as a fledgling chick. When she had her downy feathers, she had been blue and some residents had mistaken her for a boy but Blu and Jewel had told them that she was a girl. However, Bia had soon grown out of the dark blue feathers and had gained cerulean feathers as she aged. She resembled what Jewel would have looked like as a chick but she had hazel eyes in correlation to her father Blu's brown and she too, had a separate patch around each eye and a band over the top of her beak. Her crest was similar to Jewel's bit the feathers pointed straight down. Bia was the science nerd of the three much like her father Blu and she was knowledgeable in quite a few areas of science for her age. Biology, chemistry, physics and maths were among her favourite science subjects and she would often tell facts about various scientific things. Tiago also had a slender build and hazel eyes and resembled Blu more than his sisters. His crest was a messier version of Jewel's and he had a separate patch around each eye. He sported a few downy feathers on his chest, a remnant of the downy plumage he had as a younger chick. Tiago loved practical jokes and light-hearted mischief but not to the same extent as many of Rafael and Eva's offspring, having learned his lesson from participating in the naughtiness with those rambunctious toucans with his sisters. Though he was at times crude, Tiago was sensible. He was at times an annoyance to his sisters and he loved to pluck Carla's earphones and tease Bia about being nerdy but he always means no harm. Though he physically resembled Blu to a great extent, Tiago was closer to Jewel than he was to him and shared some of her personality traits such as fierceness, a trait that was yet to manifest. Carla, Bia and Tiago continued dancing with their parents and chasing each other, laughing heartily and calling when suddenly, another Spix macaw couple appeared from some branches alongside another female Spix macaw. Carla, Bia and Tiago released startled cries at the sudden appearance of Zephyr, his now-mate Aurora and sister Brisa close behind and immediately retreated to their parents.

"Oh, don't be frightened, you three," said Jewel, "It's just your uncle Zephyr and aunts Aurora and Brisa coming out to play with us with the former two's seven chicks."

Carla, Bia and Tiago looked up and saw Aurora, her mate and sister-in-law then join them. Through Zephyr, Aurora and Brisa were not biologically related to Blu and Jewel, they had been incorporated into the family along with Nico, Pedro and Rafael and his big family. Sirius, Samara, Celeste, Milo, Ahsoka and Orion had also been incorporated into the massive family and their chicks and pups had been referred to as 'cousins'. The same was true for Alabaster, Poppy, and Jack and Jill's three pets Sunspot the Dalmatian, Katrina the calico and Charon the raven for their involvement in rescuing Blu and company from the second band of smugglers and getting those smugglers and their pets caught and imprisoned (for the humans) or rehomed (for the latter).

Zephyr, Aurora and Brisa were no longer alone and flying alongside them were seven Spix macaw chicks, all of them younger than Blu and Jewel's three due to hatching later. These chicks were Zephyr and Aurora's children as well as Brisa's nephews and nieces (biologically). Zephyr and Aurora had followed Blu and Jewel's flight path in becoming proud parents to a brood of chicks, thus becoming the sanctuary's second breeding pair of Spix macaws to the gladness of Tulio and Project: Blu Bird team. In having their chicks, Zephyr and Aurora had added seven more individuals to the tiny Spix macaw population, raising it from eight to fifteen and also giving Carla, Bia and Tiago a choice of future mates when they became adults. The pairing of Zephyr and Aurora had given the Spix macaw species a completely new lease on life on a whole new level by not only adding more to the Spix macaw population but also providing the chance for a second generation of Spix macaw chicks when the first generation became adults and should they pair up. After all, the Project: Blu Bird team wanted to avoid the reproductively detrimental phenomenon of inbreeding in which individuals with low reproductive fitness were produced. In any conservation project, it was important that the mating of closely related individuals was avoided as much as possible. Zephyr's sister Brisa was still unpaired and Tulio and company had been looking into finding a male Spix macaw, one that was completely unrelated to her, Zephyr, Aurora, Blu and Jewel, for her in the hopes of establishing another breeding Spix macaw pair but so far, none had been found. For now, the team decided to manage with the two breeding pairs of Spix macaws they currently had, and Zephyr and Aurora did have a large brood.

With seven chicks, Zephyr and Aurora's brood was twice the size of Blu and Jewel's three. Large broods were uncommon among macaws, even macaws bred in captivity as the average size was often three, like Blu and Jewel's brood, or four, but it had been known that captive breeding macaws including the Spix species in the past have had particularly large clutches of eggs. However, some of those eggs in those clutches had been infertile with only about half hatching on average. But this was not in the case of Zephyr and Aurora's clutch of seven eggs. ALL had been fertile and now, Zephyr and Aurora were proud parents to seven chicks but raising a clutch of seven at once was twice as burdensome as Blu and Jewel's clutch of three. The seven chicks were oldest son and chick Justin, second oldest chick and oldest daughter Charlotte, third chick and daughter Matilda, middle chick and son Virgil, fifth chick and son Eustace, sixth chick and daughter Astrid and youngest chick and daughter Bellatrix. Though they were younger than Carla, Bia and Tiago by a number of months, their physical traits had developed and they were past flying age.

Justin resembled his father Zephyr more than he did Aurora and showed little inheritance from his mother. In fact, he was essentially a spitting image of his father. Like Zephyr, he had blue feathers, a blue-white head and neck which melted to the blue plumage down his neck, a small blue tuft of feathers above his beak and a stocky build. The only trait he had inherited from Aurora was her amber eyes mixed in with the green from Zephyr, giving Justin's eyes a shade of yellow-green. Justin was like a male version of Blu and Jewel's Carla; like her, he loved music and dancing and was a talented singer and dancer. Because of this, Justin and Carla got along very well and were close friends and though he was younger than Carla, Justin was quite sensible for his age and displayed higher maturity than her brother Tiago though at times he himself was a little immature too, but that was because he was a chick. Charlotte had cerulean feathers similar to Jewel and Brisa and slightly darker than her mother Aurora's. Like her brother Justin, she also had a blue-white head and neck which melted to her cerulean plumage. She had a large cerulean tuft of feathers above her beak and was slender in build and strongly resembled her aunt Brisa. However, she had yellow eyes which correlated closer to her mother Aurora's amber than Zephyr's green and Brisa's lime green. Charlotte was an avid soccer fan and talented soccer player and shared little interests in the main areas of with Carla, Bia and Tiago though these three sometimes liked soccer too. She liked dancing, however, but not the same extent as Carla or Justin. Charlotte was fairly mature like her older brother but at times she was prone to being bossy and she sometimes found Tiago and Matilda irritating with their silly antics. Charlotte was closer to Aurora than she was to Zephyr and Brisa despite looking so much like the latter. She was named after the spider from a children's storybook who was friends with a pig.

While Justin and Charlotte strongly resembled Zephyr and Brisa more than they did Aurora, Matilda resembled Aurora more than she did her father and aunt. Like her mother Aurora, she had maya blue feathers, blue-white spec-like markings around her eyes and above her beak (her eye patches connected by a band above the beak), pigtails for a crest (which she preferred to keep tied up like her mother), and a slender build. Like Tiago, Matilda had a few downy feathers on her neck and front. The only inherited trait she had from her father Zephyr were her eye colour. Her eyes were lime green, brighter than Zephyr's and similar to her aunt Brisa's. She was the prankster and joker of the seven chicks of Zephyr and Aurora and was like a female version of Tiago of Blu and Jewel's three. However, like Tiago, Matilda was sensible and knew boundaries and avoided crossing them. She and Tiago were close friends and were a prankster duo to the amused annoyance of their families. This meant double trouble for poor Blu who was often the target for his son's pranks! Though Matilda strongly resembled Aurora in looks apart from her eye colour, she was closer to Zephyr than she was to Aurora. Virgil appeared to share a more proper blend of traits of both his parents. He had Aurora's spec-like eyes and light blue feathers and Zephyr's green eyes, though his eyes were more sea-green, and he had Zephyr's stocky build. However, his crest was a departure from his parents' and his older brother and sisters'. Rather than a tuft above the beak, and certainly NOT pigtails for that was solely a female trait occurring largely on Aurora's side of the family (her mother Clarinda also had pigtails), Virgil's crest was a simple ruffle; somewhat similar to Blu's on the nape but Virgil's was on his crown. Virgil had an unusual tint to his bright blue feathers and his plumage was the brightest of the family apart from Bellatrix. They were a vivid electric blue and unusually bright for a Spix macaw. Virgil was mildly interested in science though not the same extent as Bia. Despite this, he found Bia's facts interesting and he got along with her better than Carla or Tiago though those two were his friends as well. Virgil was protective and sensible and ABSOLUTELY does NOT tolerate bullying. He is often the one that keeps Astrid and Bellatrix in line and is not hesitant in rebuking Matilda, Tiago or the toucan kids, or any other of the mischievous birds and animals for that matter. However, at times, he was immature but again, that was because he was still young. Matilda was named after the girl with psychokinetic powers from the books of a famous English author and Virgil was named after a character from a sci-fi series featuring advanced flying machines built for rescues which had been one of Aurora, Sirius and their now-former owner Brandon's favourite TV series as youngsters when they lived in London, the United Kingdom (that TV series still was a favourite for these three even now).

Eustace, like Justin and Charlotte, had the blue-white head and neck melting to his main plumage colour down the neck. His crest was a ruffle atop his head and he had yellow-green eyes like Justin, and a slim build. However, his plumage colour set him apart from the rest of his family and also Blu and his family. While Zephyr and Justin and also Astrid were a shade of blue similar to Blu and Tiago, and Aurora, Brisa, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil's feathers tended to the brighter shades like Jewel, Carla and Bia, Eustace's feather colour were a deep midnight blue, very similar to the shade of a Lear's macaw or hyacinth macaw (though some hyacinths were also mildly blue like Blu's plumage) and darker than any of the other Spix macaws. This feather shade made Eustace look like a young hyacinth without the eye patches and beak lappet. This unusual shade of blue for a Spix macaw was a trait Zephyr's side of the family had; a relative of Zephyr and Brisa had that deep blue colour. Eustace's favourite topics were art and drawing and for his age, he drew quite well, even better than Bia's more scientific drawings. Not only was drawing with pencils and pens his topic, but Eustace also made art pieces using bits of materials like colourful pebbles, human things like coloured paper, and even shed feathers. His range of interests was a complete departure to Carla, Bia and Tiago's range of interests. Lastly, Astrid and Bellatrix, the two youngest daughters and chicks of Aurora and Zephyr's large clutch of seven, appeared very similar to each other. They looked almost like identical twins though some of their traits distinguished them. Both these two younger sisters had a blue-white mask enclosing their faces except between their eyes above the beak, making their faces resemble Jewel's to a degree despite not being related to her, and a slender build. Both had one ponytail of feathers on one side of their head rather than pigtails like their mother Aurora and sister Matilda. Astrid's pigtail was on her left and Bellatrix's, on her right. Astrid was blue like Zephyr while Bellatrix was electric blue like Virgil but her wing and tail topsides were a darker cerulean similar to Carla. Both the girls had blue or green for their eye shade, correlating towards their father Zephyr's green with Astrid's being emerald and Bellatrix's, cyan similar to Jewel's. Astrid and Bellatrix were often referred to as the twins due to how similar they looked especially in silhouette. The girls were quite tough and bossy and sometimes bickered between each other but they still loved each other nonetheless. However, their bickering and antics were often an irritation to their five older siblings and everyone else including Tiago and they would often be rebuked, often by Virgil. Astrid and Bellatrix were quite tomboyish and liked 'boyish' things. One of these was skateboarding to the surprise of their parents and also Blu as it was one of his favourite things and for their age, the twins were especially good at it. It was clear that Astrid and Bellatrix's toughness was an inherited trait from their father Zephyr for he was sometimes this. Despite their fierceness and mischief, Astrid and Bellatrix were usually well-behaved and sensible. Eustace was named after a Chronicles of Narnia character, the Chronicles books being Aurora's favourite book series, Astrid from a female Viking character from an animated series about dragons and Bellatrix took her name from a star in Orion. Aurora was inspired to name her after a star since Sirius' name was also a star.

Raising this clutch of seven was something Zephyr and Aurora could not manage alone often, so they had help from Brisa who was now Aurora's sister-in-law, and also their family friends such as their human friends such as Tulio (who made sure that all seven chicks were healthy and growing well; he and his team valued EVERY single individual member of the critically endangered macaw species) and even Charon who simply took two or three of the chicks on a flight out to introduce them to the jungle and also to the city and to teach them about dangers. Though Charon had strictly chosen to NOT pair up with a female raven and have his own chicks as he did not want to have his children receive his horrible legacy as a poacher's pet, he was more than happy to help raise the chicks of his macaw friends. Alabaster and Poppy the cockatoos also helped to raise the chicks and gave them lessons though the pair had planned to have their own chicks for they had now become mates. It was clear that Zephyr and Aurora, despite her love of being a mother, would need help in raising Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Eustace, Astrid and Bellatrix. After all, having that many chicks at the same time was a LOT of work for the parents and it was important that extra help was sought. This ought to be a SERIOUS lesson for Rafael and Eva about having SO many broods of chicks in a short space of time but the pair was proud and often they never listened to the disapproving comments from other parents in the forest, including Blu and Jewel. Zephyr, Aurora, Brisa, Sirius, Samara, Orion, Ahsoka, Milo and Celeste had also voiced their immense disapproval of the toucan couple having so many chicks in a short space of time. Furthermore, laying the clutch of seven eggs had been quite a strain on Aurora and she needed plenty of rest after laying the seventh egg, one that would hatch into Bellatrix. While she took her rest, Zephyr and Brisa helped to look after the eggs until Aurora was better. Then as soon as she had recovered, Aurora helped to keep the eggs warm until the chicks hatched.

Zephyr, his sister Brisa, mate Aurora and sons and daughters Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil, Eustace, Astrid and Bellatrix then began to play with Blu's family with the seven chicks chasing down Blu and Jewel's three.

"Hey, Bia, what's the scientific name for Spix macaw?" called Virgil as he flew with Eustace and Matilda.

"Cyanopsitta spixii," Bia called back as she looped around some branches with Carla, Tiago hovering there a little befuddled at his sisters' agility. Then Astrid and Bellatrix flew in and rapidly weaved in and out of the branches to the surprise of Blu and Jewel's daughters. The 'twins' were indeed agile flyers for their age and they were especially deft around cluttered environments, rivalling even Orion and Ahsoka's agility which was natural to them due to them being bats and having a COMPLETELY different wing design to the birds' feathered wings. However, their parents had always made sure that they didn't show off too much or they would seriously injure themselves.

"Be careful you two," Zephyr called to the 'twins' as they continued to weave and loop around the branches of a very cluttered tree before finally growing tired of it and emerging from the mesh.

"I bet you cannot do that, you two," boasted Astrid as she and Bellatrix flew past Carla and Bia who jealously looked on and flew after them. Then Justin and Virgil appeared.

"Hey, you two, don't be such braggarts and show-offs," called the former and with that, he began to chase down the 'twins' to tell them off along with Virgil with Eustace, Charlotte and Matilda following. The others emitted giggles and joined the chase.

The toucans, Spix macaws, Nico and Pedro were soon joined by Sirius and Samara and they emerged from the trees as well after dancing with a few other macaws.

"Don't flinch, chicks," called Sirius as he and his beautiful mate appeared though Astrid and Bellatrix stopped dead at the glaucous macaws' appearance. Their sudden stopping forced their five older siblings to stop dead too, resulting in a near-collision and prompting Zephyr and Aurora to rebuke their children about reckless flying. Sirius and Samara winced when they saw the near collision but they were relieved that it didn't happen. After this, they joined in the fun. Following Sirius and Samara were several smaller glaucous macaws, their children and they began to playfully chase the Spix macaw chicks and some of the toucan kids, among them Diantha who was a close friends to the macaw chicks and new additions to the family.

Sirius and Samara were now not the only glaucous macaws alive. The couple had become proud parents to a clutch of five chicks: oldest daughter and chick Lapis Lazuli, second oldest chick and oldest son Levi, middle chick and son Azul, second youngest chick and second daughter Sapphire and youngest chick and daughter Trixie. Sirius and Samara's brood was large like Zephyr and Aurora's brood but had two less chicks. Like both their parents and all glaucous macaws, the five chicks had a grey head and neck, yellow eye rings and beak lappets and grey or black beaks and feet and their body feathers, wings and tail. Lapis Lazuli had deep blue feathers like her mother Samara but like her father Sirius, she had pale grey on her wing and tail undersides. This trait was not present in all glaucous macaw individuals as Samara did not have grey on her wing and tail undersides. Lapis Lazuli had inherited the beautiful long woman's hair-like head feathers from her mother and as in Samara, those feathers cascaded down the sides and back of her head just past the neck. However, unlike Samara's head feathers which were partly grey melting to blue on the way down, Lapis Lazuli's head feathers started immediately at blue so her head feathers were entirely a solid blue colour from base to tip. She had a slim build also like Samara but her eye colour was different from those of her parents'. While Sirius had blue eyes and Samara, bright yellow and not amber like Aurora, Lapis Lazuli's eyes were instead green. Lapis Lazuli was outgoing and confident, similar to Carla and she liked music and dancing. Her voice was crystalline similar to her mother Samara's and she sometimes rivalled Carla in her musical talents. Lapis Lazuli was also at times bossy and sassy and was closer to Samara than she was to Sirius. She also had a few downy feathers on her front like Tiago and Matilda though not as many.

While Lapis Lazuli looked more like Samara than she did Sirius, Levi was the opposite. He was azure blue like his father and like him was stocky in build and had a sheet of feathers on his crown, coloured grey. However, Levi had inherited his mother's yellow eyes only they were a slightly paler lemon rather than bright yellow. Levi was tough and confident similar to Lapis Lazuli and was like Sirius and Samara's version of Justin from Zephyr band Aurora's larger brood of seven. He was protective, good at resolving conflicts and standing up for weaker individuals such as Trixie. Like Charlotte and to a degree, Carla, Bia and Tiago, Levi liked soccer and was an excellent football player with excellent agility and control of the ball. He was also a keen stargazer and is quite knowledgeable of the stars, sort of like Bia but more specialised in astronomy. However, Levi is not very keen on biology or maths which were two of Bia's other favourite topics. Azul the middle child was also confident and protective but he was a little shy and timid at times. His physical appearance was like a male version of Samara. Like his mother, he had blue feathers and a mop of head feathers cascading down the sides and back of his head. However, the feathers weren't long and thin as in Samara and Lapis Lazuli. They were short and broad for he was a male macaw and they stopped just before where his neck began. This trait reminded Jewel of a certain close friend she once had in the Amazon before the fire tore her, along with Zephyr, Brisa and their parents Viento and Gael, from their tribe but she just brushed it aside as it was too painful to remember. Azul was fairly slim in build, had his father's blue eyes and his crest feathers, like his mother Samara's, melted from grey to blue towards the tips. Azul's head feathers were also expressive and whenever he got angry, frightened or startled, his crest feathers will flare out. Azul liked art much like Eustace of Zephyr and Aurora's brood but he was more into making things than drawing pictures.

Sapphire was another chick with deep blue like Samara and she, too, had long feathers but she tied them into a ponytail much like Astrid and Bellatrix did theirs. The feathers in her ponytail were also grey at the base but melted to blue at the tips. Her eyes were dark blue, darker even than Sirius' eyes and Azul's, and she was slim in build. Sapphire liked biology and was not so keen on space and maths. She was like Bia in the field but not so much in astronomy, chemistry or maths. Her favourite things in biology were butterflies and flowers and she especially loved the colours they displayed for she also loved colourful things. Sapphire was at times shy and did not like confrontations or when someone was in trouble. Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire were named after blue gemstones while Azul was named from the Spanish word for blue and was named by Samara in Blu's honour to the former macaw companion of Linda's surprise but Samara wanted to do this for she had initially been nasty to Blu before she reformed and wanted to make up for it though Blu said it was unnecessary and that she didn't need to. However, Samara was adamant and Blu eventually accepted. Lastly, the youngest chick and daughter of Sirius and Samara, Trixie, had azure feathers like her father Sirius but with light grey on her wing and tail undersides like Lapis Lazuli and also Sirius. She had a small flick of feathers atop her head, quite a deviation from her older brothers and sisters' long head feathers like their mother Samara. She had a slim build and cyan eyes which correlated towards her father Sirius' blue. Trixie was very different from her four older brothers and sisters. While Lapis Lazuli, Levi, Azul and Sapphire were of average sizes for glaucous macaw chicks their age, Trixie was smaller, indicating that she suffered from dwarfism. She had not developed properly in her egg and had hatched unusually small and rather weak, in short being born a runt. Because of this, the little glaucous macaw needed careful attention to ensure she survived but Trixie being born unusually small had not been the only saddening news for Sirius and Samara.

This chapter is quite long so it is uploaded in two parts. Chapter 40 will continue immediately after this chapter