Chapter 33- ending, epilogue and plans for a summer trip to Rio

Six months had gone went by since the fire tore through the jungle but over that time period, the rainforest had recovered from the devastation. Green leaves had grown back on the trees and the undergrowth had also regained their greenery too. Fruit trees had begun to produce fruit as well and flowers had also grown back. Furthermore, the lakes and rivers were back to their normal levels. In the drought they had lost a lot of water but after a number of bouts of rain, they had been replenished. The animals that had been injured in the fire had also been returned to the jungle by the human ecologists and vets after they had made a full recovery and declared fit enough for release, and the number of macaws, most of them glaucous that had been injured, had also been released into the wild after making a full recovery from their injuries. Venus, who had suffered from infected wounds on her back and wing, had also made a full recovery and had been returned to the wild as well, where she was happily reunited with her mate Zephyr, chicks Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil and her other friends and family. The glaucous macaw tribe that had moved in with the Navyfeather Clan had been included into the Sanctuary de Amazon and the Navyfeathers' territory had been set up as a more restricted area of protection than the rest of the sanctuary so that the precious glaucous macaws were protected from logging and poaching. With the protection up in place, Rudi and his tribe were now able to live in a proper home without having to worry about facing destruction from logging or invasion from poaching. Also, they had a clan of large macaws to help protect them in the unlikely event of a crisis. Pluto and his family had also moved in with the tribe and for the first time since they met Rudi and the other glaucous macaws, had a proper hollow in a proper home. The home was indeed proper, the sort the glaucous macaws had been searching for years. All the macaws had proper hollows to live in and not out in branches in crowds like they had done since they lost their home to the flying foxes until the move and the glaucous macaws were once again in contact with the other macaw tribes and clans as well.

The relationship between the green tribe and the Lear's tribe had also improved. Before they had been in conflict with each other but now, like the red and Spix tribes shortly after their collaboration in driving off the loggers, the green and Lear's macaws lived together peacefully and some had even made friends with each other. Furthermore, after the discovery of a patch of camu-camu fruit bushes in a part of the green tribe's territory close to the green/blue-and-gold border, and that they were inside the green territory, Alonso had given the Lear's macaws their side of the camu-camu fruit grove at the green/Lear's border back as well as the majority of the camu-camu fruit grove on their side as well, though the green macaws occasionally visited the grove to share some camu-camu with their now former enemies as Valentino had wished. Mercury, Sapphire, Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette had moved back in with Valentino and his tribe, and a burial for Archie had also been carried out. It was clear that Archie had been killed by a group of flying foxes, but the Lear's tribe, especially Sapphire had been devastated by the loss. Alonso had promised to keep a close eye on the green macaws' outer border nearest to the flying foxes' territory border, especially where some green macaws had found Archie's body, for any flying fox activity, just in case. If any suspicious activity was reported, Alonso would keep the Lear's macaws informed. Things certainly were returning to normal for everyone in the Sanctuary de Amazon. Though the cause of the fire had never been determined or found, but some of the ecologists had assumed that logging activity which had been reported where the glaucous macaws had formerly lived was the likely cause, while others believed it could have started by natural means. However, no-one noticed that it was actually caused by the careless logger group leader who had tossed a still-burning cigarette end aside and it landed onto a patch of seriously dehydrated ferns and shrubs. Despite not getting to this, the ecologists were glad that the fire had been extinguished and that the sanctuary had made a full recovery.

After the six months

The macaw tribes and clans' home patches were alive with music. All the macaw tribes and clans were performing their theme dances to celebrate the end of the drought and the newfound peace between the green and Lear's macaw tribes. In the Spix macaws' ravine, dancing blue birds filled the air, singing to 'Beautiful Creatures'. The male macaws had parts of their faces painted red with fruit paint while the females had yellow flower pollen smeared onto parts of their faces and wing tips. Among the dancing macaws, Blu and Zephyr, who had red paint on their faces, danced with Jewel and Venus respectively. Jewel and Venus had yellow pollen on their faces and wingtips. Also among the dancing birds, Brisa also decked out with yellow pollen danced with Roberto. Some of the chicks were also dancing with the adults. Carla, Bia, Charlotte, Matilda and who were decked out with yellow pollen on their faces and wing tips and Tiago, Justin and Virgil who were decked out with red plant paint on their faces, danced together. Justin danced with Carla, Matilda danced with Tiago and Bia danced with a male chick named Raul. Virgil had been a bit disappointed that Bia had chosen to dance with another male chick, but since Raul appeared to be into nature like Bia and had told Bia that he was into nature as well, he had convinced her to dance, leaving Virgil out of the circle and forcing him to dance with another macaw chick. Two of the friends of the seven macaws, Garrett and Turquesa also danced with the other chicks. Around the central macaws, the other macaws, among them Maximillian, Roxie the scoremarker of the Spix Pit of Doom team, and Mertle and of course Eduardo and Mimi, also danced. It truly was an awesome sight to watch. The recovery of the ravine itself was also an amazing sight. All around the ravine of the Spix tribe, the trees had regained their green leaves while flowers had returned, forming a carpet of colourful mass thrown across parts of the ravine floor. The waterfall and river pool were also back to their full selves, the rains having replenished them. The ravine was like how it was before the fire, vibrant and colourful. From the once-again green trees, Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa watched from the sidelines, the three sulfur-crested/Major Mitchell's hybrid chicks avoiding trying to dance with the Spix macaws after what happened last time!

While the Spix macaws danced to their song 'Beautiful Creatures', the red tribe danced to their song 'The Red Macaws with the Blue, Yellow and Green Wings'. All the male scarlet and green-winged macaws including Mars, Jupiter, Ganymede, Phobos, Deimos and Alexandre, had yellow flower pollen on parts of their faces and leaf and vine necklaces around their necks while the females including Ruby, Io, Europa, Callisto and Chiquitita wore pink flower pollen on their faces and also leaf, vine and flower necklaces on their necks and some on their ankles. The red tribe's dance sequence was different to the Spix macaws but it was still as elegant. Among the crowd of dancing red birds were Felipe and Pearl who danced together. Jupiter danced with Ruby, Chquitita danced with Mars and their chicks also danced with some of the other chicks, such as Io with Sheldon the scarlet/green-winged hybrid, Alexandre with Estelle, Callisto with Byron and Europa, Ganymede, Phobos and Deimos with three other chicks. The scarlet and green-winged macaws were indeed having a good time. Like the Spix tribe's ravine, the red tribe's home patch and surrounding trees had also regained their green and colour and was like how it was before. Furthermore, Felipe and Pearl had had a clutch of three eggs for Pearl was finally ready to become a mother. She and Felipe looked forward to having chicks of their own and becoming parents.

In the blue-and-gold tribe's home patch, the trees and other plants had also regained their greenery and colour, restoring the habitat to its former glory. The habitat of the macaw tribe was filled with dancing blue, yellow and green macaws. The blue-and-gold tribe was dancing to their dance, 'Blue and Gold Feathers in the Blue Sky and Golden Sun', the males dressed with blue flowered vines around necks and the females in vines decorated with purple and pink flowers. Among the flock, Saturn danced with Orquidea while Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan and Iapetus danced with some of the chicks. Soleado and Zoie were also dancing, joined by their oldest son Tobias and two more children, a son named Amarillo (Spanish for 'yellow') and a daughter named Bromelia, after the Spanish term for the bromeliad flower. The third egg, however, did not hatch and thus was discarded. The blue-and-gold macaws were indeed celebrating the recovery of the sanctuary from the fire. In the green macaws' home patch, the great green and military macaws were also dancing, not only celebrating the recovery of the sanctuary from the fire and the restoration of the green and colour to their home but also their newfound peace with the Lear's macaws. The male green macaws wore orange fruit paint on their faces and wing tips while the females wore yellow flower pollen on just their faces. Among the dancing flock, Uranus danced with Esmeralda while Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon danced with some of the chicks taking part in the dance, named 'We Are Green Macaws Living in the Green Jungle'. Alonso also danced with Verde. They had two chicks flutter around them. They were a son named Martese and a daughter named Lima. The two chicks had hatched two days after the fire and had brought tremendous joy to their parents and the tribe, the first they had had shortly after the fire.

In the Lear's tribe's ravine and habitat, the vast diversity of colour had returned to both zones. The bottom of the ravine was once again decorated with a carpet of colourful flowers and the stream that rain on the floor from three small waterfalls was back to its original size. The cliff faces, both the rocky and the sandstone, and their holes were also once again a pale sand brown colour as the blackened soil had eroded away. The Lear's macaws had worked together in getting rid of the blackness on the cliff faces to make it look nice again, and had also cleaned their cliff face hole homes of charred soil to make them more habitable again. Also, the trees had regained their greenery and colour. In the ravine air, the Lear's macaws danced to their tribe song 'Elegant Navy Birds in the Glorious Jungle', with the males wearing colourful flowers around their necks and yellow plant paint on their faces, and the females also wearing a necklace of flowers around their necks but a flower on their heads instead of fruit paint. Among the dancing navy blue and teal-tinted faced birds, Mercury danced with Sapphire while Waldo danced with the tribe's scoremarker of the Pit of Doom team, Monique. Phoebe, Jasmine and Annette also danced with a male chick each and amongst some of the other chicks, and Valentino danced with Rosalind. The Lear's macaws also celebrated their newfound peace with the green tribe and the recovery of the jungle. The same happened in the Bluewing hyacinth Clan and their blue-throated macaw co-inhabitants, and the Navyfeather Clan and their new glaucous macaw co-inhabitants. Demetrio and Violeta, the leaders of the Bluewing Clan and their two sons, Arlo and Vincente, danced with their clan and the blue-throated macaws, as did the blue-throated macaw clan leaders, Reynaldo and Anita. The leader couple had a chick dance with them, a son named Edson, who had been born from a clutch of two eggs. However, his sibling did not hatch and after seeing that the egg was infertile, his parents had chucked it. The hyacinth and blue-throated macaws danced together and their song was called 'We Love the Wildlife'. The male Bluewing hyacinth and blue-throated macaws wore fruit shell and flower decorated vines around their necks and ankles and red paint on their faces while the females of both clans wore the same decorations as males but pink flower pollen on their faces and a flower on their heads. Among the dancing mass of large navy blue and smaller rich blue and yellow or yellow-orange birds, Cobalto danced with Ceres and their sons Azul, Aurelio and Wilbur danced with some of the blue-throated macaw chicks. Though the Bluewing and blue-throated macaw clans' territory was largely untouched by the flower, they were glad that the rest of the sanctuary had recovered. During the dance, the blue-throated and hyacinth macaws danced separately but during the climax of the song, they mixed together but retaining their partners. Two different species of macaws dancing together to a common song was quite rare but it was an amazing sight to see the air above the Bluewing and blue-throated macaw clans' home patches decorated with a cloud of navy blue, lighter blue and rich yellows with other colours from their face paint and body attire thrown in like sprinklers on top of a human treat such as a bun.

Finally, in the Navyfeather and now glaucous macaws' territory, the Navyfeather hyacinth macaws, among them Neptune, Ultramarine, Indigo and Triton danced to their theme song but this time, they had new and additional macaws with them. Before the glaucous tribe moved in, the Navyfeather Clan's dance was called 'Dance of the Hyacinths' but now it had been updated to 'Dance of the Navyfeather Hyacinth and Glaucous Macaws' to include Rudi's tribe. During the past six months, the Navyfeathers had trained the glaucous macaws to dance similar to how they did, but because the glaucous macaws had not sung their song for years, it had been difficult, but they eventually mastered the moves. Both the male hyacinth and glaucous macaws wore yellow flower pollen on their faces and chests while the females had pink flower pollen on their faces and a flower on their heads, and they danced together. Among the dancing glaucous macaws were Pluto, Lapis Lazuli, Blueberry, Charon, Quincy and Flor, and Rudi and Valeria with their sons Alberto and Lorenzo who had both learned to fly. The glaucous macaws were indeed very happy to have found a home at last, so they also celebrated it in the song with their new hyacinth macaw neighbours. Like the Bluewing and blue-throated macaw clans' home patch, the trees of the Navyfeathers and now the glaucous macaws were untouched and the trees that had been burned had recovered. It truly was an amazing time for the macaw tribes and clans, while for the non-tribe and clan resident birds, life had resumed to normal and the bird communities were enjoying life in the Amazon once again. Life truly has recovered from the fire six months ago, and the Sanctuary de Amazon was flourishing once again.

After everything in the macaw tribes and clans' home patches had settled down, their activities returned to their usual routines. Macaws were foraging for their families or themselves, patrol groups were sent out and outings with chicks for a tour of the sanctuary occurred. However, in the midst of the usual activities a group of macaw couples had gathered in a certain spot in the sanctuary, the meeting point of the Spix/red, Spix/blue-and-gold and the Spix/Lear's boundaries. Among the couples were Blu and Jewel, and they had gathered with Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Ceres and Pluto and their respective mates Sapphire, Zephyr, Chiquitita, Ruby, Orquidea, Esmeralda, Ultramarine, Cobalto and Lapis Lazuli. All the chicks of the couples were playing nearby and Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa were with them. All the chicks including the cockatoo hybrids had grown somewhat over the past six months and appeared a little older and larger but they still looked similar to what they were six months ago. It will not be long now until the chicks reached adolescence. While the chicks played, the adults talked.

"Boy, it's been a really busy six months, I can tell you," said Zephyr tiredly, "We've been through a lot, especially with the fire."

"I agree," said Venus as she shuddered at the traumatic experience, "I hope that I will never get caught in that fire again. Not to mention come across those flying foxes."

"It had been a terrifying ordeal," said Jupiter with a shudder. He then stole a glance from Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto as they played ball with Carla, Bia, Tiago and Charlotte. "I actually thought I was going to get trapped in the fire with those four. It sure was a living nightmare, I can tell you."

"It was also a nightmare to think of you being trapped by the fire as well," said Ruby, "Though Eduardo had told us and the blue-and-gold macaws that he was sorry for forgetting them when panic overtook him from hearing the warnings that the fire was spreading, and I don't think I can blame him for that but…"

"His tribe has had a terrible ordeal with the other fire," said Mars, looking at Jewel, "Since it tore her and Zephyr and his family from the tribe and killed a few more."

"I agree," said Chiquitita. She stole a glance at Phobos, Deimos and Alexandre before turning back to the others. The other macaws also nodded and murmured in agreement. Then Zephyr moved on to a happier subject.

"Oh, did you guys hear the news about my sister Brisa?" he asked. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Ceres and Pluto and their respective mates looked up with smiles.

"She has become Roberto's girlfriend," said Jewel. At this, joy hit the non-Spix macaws.

"Oh, I'm so glad for her," said Mercury excitedly, "I'm glad they're a couple now."

"It had not been an easy road for Roberto and Brisa though," said Jewel with a stern look, "Mertle kept pestering Roberto with the intention of becoming his girlfriend instead of Brisa but Roberto was not going to allow a macaw with such an attitude problem to be his girlfriend and date as he preferred Brisa, so he chose Brisa instead."

"That Spix macaw, I believe, certainly does have an attitude problem," muttered Jupiter with a frown, "Especially how she allowed her daughter Aguamarina to snatch a Brazil nut off one of my daughters Io. I deeply worry for that chick. If Aguamarina does not change her attitude, there's likelihood that her daughter is going to grow up and become like her…"

"Mertle's parents spoilt her outright, Dad told me," said Zephyr, "Which may have led to her spoilt and obnoxious attitude. Not to mention her attitude towards Jewel."

And with that, he gave Jewel a worried stare but Jewel smiled. She was tough enough to handle that macaw's foul attitude. Then Blu changed the subject.

"Oh, we forgot to tell you," he said to the others, "I was wondering if you would like to come with us on our summer trip and stay to Rio?"

"Summer trip?" repeated Uranus.

"Yes," said Jewel, "I promised Blu that we, us two and our chicks Carla, Bia and Tiago, could do summers in Rio during the Amazon Untamed dance and I was thinking that you lot might be interested as well."

"You'll get to see your cat and dog friends again," said Blu with an encouraging smile.

"I think that's a great idea," said Mercury.

"Yeah, it'll get us away from the shock we have had with the fire for a while," said Venus. Travis then breathed a sigh of relief.

"I could do with us going back to Rio actually," he said, "Even after six months; I feel we don't belong here at all."

"I agree, as our chicks here are not mixing in well with the chicks of the sanctuary," said Sunset. Eustace, Milo and Rosa nodded in agreement. It was true that they were struggling to make friends with some of the other chicks apart from Carla, Bia, Tiago and company, because of their species, and sulfur-crested and Major Mitchell's cockatoos did not exist in the Amazon rainforest. Travis felt that his and Sunset's two sons and daughter could do with socialising with a group of cockatoos Blu had told him about back in Rio, and had been itching to return to the place after the ordeal with the fire six months ago. Then Saturn brought up another piece of good news.

"Oh, did you guys hear of the plans of Tulio and his team?" he asked.

"Yes?" asked Zephyr.

"They're planning to build an animal hospital in the middle of that deforested area," said Saturn, "Plus a system of watch-houses and bird hides for bird enthusiasts to go birdwatching. They're not implanting the plans yet but…"

"That sounds like an excellent idea," said Jupiter, "Especially the animal hospital. It would save our human friends a lot of hassle trying to bring helicopters in all the time and take a bunch of injured animals to the nearest city of Manaus which is kilometres away."

"Yeah, absolutely," said Ruby, "It would be of some use."

The others nodded in agreement when suddenly; a shell ball flew in toward Saturn. At this, he managed to lift a talon and kick it away in time, smiling as he watched Carla, Bia, Tiago, Charlotte and Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto fly past and chase after it. Then Enceladus and Iapetus, two of his sons, flew by, also trying to chase the ball. Saturn giggled in amusement and turned back to the other macaws and cockatoos.

"Them lot with the ball, honestly," he tittered.

"So, would you lot like to come with us to Rio for the summer?" asked Blu. This was met by a bunch of yeses from the other adults.

"Oh yeah, definitely," said Mercury.

"It would give our kids a bit of a change of scene," said Sapphire as she stole a glance from Annette, Phoebe and Jasmine who were either relaxing or admiring a few colourful flowers and a butterfly.

"We'll get to meet our dog and cat friends again," said Venus.

"And Nico, Pedro and Rafael, and the sloppy Luiz," said Zephyr, reluctantly saying the last name as he still remembered the bulldog's gross drooling habit.

"It would give us a chance to escort Travis and his family back," said Mars.

"Definitely," said Chiquitita.

"When we meet our city friends, we'll be having a lot to catch up on," said Jupiter.

"Yeah, especially after the events of the past six months," said Ruby.

"I'd like to see how Dash and Ginger's pups and Veggie and Catina's kittens have changed," said Saturn.

"I reckon they'll have grown quite a bit," said Orquidea.

"And probably show more of their parents' inherited traits," said Uranus. Esmeralda nodded in agreement before stealing a glance at Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon as they chatted with Mimas, Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Titan, the other five chicks of Saturn and Orquidea. Neptune also glanced at Triton and Indigo who were just relaxing on a tree trunk. Then Ultramarine looked around.

"At least everything is back to normal now," she said, admiring the restored colour, "Between all this and shortly after the fire, a large area of the Sanctuary de Amazon had been all black with no colour at all."

"And to add," said Sapphire, "There had been no more flying fox activity at the borders of the Sanctuary de Amazon closest to their territory boundary as reported by Alonso, Soleado, and Demetrio and Reynaldo's patrollers since the fire."

"Yeah, absolutely, looks like the bats have behaved themselves," said Cobalto, before turning to Venus with a stare, "after a group of them had chosen to… seemingly take out their anger on certain birds after the fire."

"Those bats didn't attack me out of anger caused by the fire, Cobalto," said Venus, "They went straight after me after I tried to tell them off for mocking Eduardo and Felipe's tribes, and the others that live here."

"Rebuking them only adds fuel to the fire, Venus," said Ceres, "Violeta told me that a few weeks ago."

"Yeah, it doesn't make a difference," said Lapis Lazuli. Pluto then shuddered.

"I hope I don't ever meet them," he said, "It's a good thing you managed to escape them using mud, Venus though I heard you got bacteria into your wounds from apparently applying the mud."

"I didn't have much time to think about my injuries, Pluto," said Venus, "I was in a seriously life-threatening situation. Had I had any delays, those bats would have killed me on the spot."

She shuddered at the memories of being wildly chased through the dark forest that night by those enormous bats and some of their pups. Venus remembered seeing the sadistic, mocking eyes and wicked smiles on the faces of those bats, the sharp-ended sticks some of them carried. Venus also had memories of those colourful clusters of feathers tied to the other end of those spear-like sticks, but those feathers weren't used for decoration, but as trophies harvested from freshly killed birds. Venus was certain that had she been killed, the bat that made the kill would have collected one of her feathers and added it to his or her collection. It had been a horrible ordeal, made worse by getting lost in the fire. It had left Venus badly shaken and too afraid to venture out alone into the forest at night, preferring to be back in the safety of the Spix tribe's ravine or vicinity of the home patch of another bird tribe or clan when the sun was close to setting, and from the night of the fire and when she encounter that group[ of flying foxes six months ago until now, Venus had completely refused to venture out into the dark forest by herself, and Zephyr could clearly see how the night of the fire and her encounter with some of those bats had badly affected her. each time Venus looked into the darkness of the forest at night outside the ravine, shivers would course through her body and her imagination ran wild, resulting in a flood of memories of that night flooding back. Venus would hear cackling sounds, see the evil faces of the flying foxes and at times imaginary flames, leering faces in the trees and cockatoo-faced monsters glare at her, making her become so overwhelmed with fear that she would dart back into the ravine. It was only if she had someone with her that calmed her fears. Venus hoped to never get lost in the dark forest again. Then the group continued talking while their kids played or relaxed.

Then the next day, Blu, Jewel and Jupiter and his group began to prepare for their journey back to Rio. After saying goodbye to their friends and family in their tribes and clans, with Tornado and Gael, and Eduardo and Mimi sternly reminding Zephyr and Jewel to keep out of trouble, and Felipe and Pearl sternly telling Ruby and Chiquitita to be safe as well, and Valentino telling Sapphire, Soleado telling Orquidea, Alonso telling Esmeralda, Flavio and Marinho telling Ultramarine, Demetrio and Reynaldo telling Cobalto, and Rudi telling Lapis Lazuli the exact same thing as well. Then after saying goodbye to their respective tribes and clans, Jupiter, Blu and Jewel and company met and then began to make their return to Rio with their chicks, and Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa. However, Brisa was not with them. She had chosen to stay behind with the Spix macaw tribe so that she could spend more time with Roberto. Then Blu, Jewel, their chicks Carla, Bia and Tiago and the others with them flew off out of the Sanctuary de Amazon, but their first summer in Rio will be another adventure and story entirely.

And that's it; we've come to the end of the second story. As it turns out, I feel this has been better than the original version. This has given us a better introduction of what the flying foxes (most of them) are like and a taste of how they attack birds, as well as a better introduction of the Lear's macaw with a flock of them living in the Amazon already rather than introduced like in my previous story. Now the sequel to this story will be centred on Blu and company's adventures in Rio during their summer trip. However, who knows what next threat or adventure awaits them? Stay tuned for the sequel!

By the way, there is still a possibility that Blue Sky Studios might plan on a Rio 3 sometime in the future. I wonder what Carlos Saldanha has in store for us regarding that. Blu and Jewel and their chick's trip to Rio during the summer, perhaps? We'll have to see.

By the way, all characters not invented by Blue Sky Studios are copyrighted by me and you cannot use them in any of your stories. Thank you.