Rio 1.5

In the beninging

(this is set immediately after the first film, taking place before jewel's wing has healed.)

Dr Tulio gently placed Jewel down gently on a table. Blu flew in from behind the doctor and landed next to her.

"After close examination," Tulio said, "Jewel's wing seems to be broken."

Jewel looked down at her wing that was jutting off her back like it had been messily taped on there; the end of it bent upwards at a weird angle after the recent encounter with a cage

"I couldn't have guessed," Jewel remarked, trying to adjust her painful wing into a position where it didn't hurt as much

Linda looked over Tulio's shoulder and looked worriedly at the malformed wing.

"Will it be a trip to the local vet then," She guessed, "get her wing set."

"No, no, no, no," Tulio replied, shaking his head profusely ,"these are the last breeding pair of Blue Spix Macaws..."

"Please don't call us that," Blu requested, ruffling his feathers awkwardly.

"...We need them to procreate and save the species!"

"I'm uncomfortable," Blu remarked, while Jewel giggled at him.

Tulio then strutted over to a big cork board that had a map pinned onto it at a wonky angle. Then as the others watched expectantly, he began counting up the latitude lines to try and find the right spot.

"According to my research," Tulio continued ,"the best vet in the entire world is located here."

Tulio pulled back his hand and Melodramatically shoved a pin into somewhere in the northern midwest and then spun back around with his arms spread wide in a "tada!" pose.

"Hey, I know that place!" Linda said excitedly, "it's in Moose Lake Minnesota!"

Blu squawked excitedly.

"You hear that Jewel," Blu exclaimed, Jumping up to his feet ,"you'll get to see the wonders of minnesota!" he continued, drawing dramatic arcs with his wings trying to illustrate just how brilliant Marshmallows are or the joys of Mario Kart

Jewel on the other hand was fidgeting uneasily. Minnesota? The place where free birds become pets! The place where it's so cold that water becomes a rock! Maybe her broken wing was less of a threat to her life than that hell hole.

"This is actually kind of convenient," Linda said ,"it'll give me and Blu a chance to properly pack up and close up the bookshop. We just kind of left it when we came to Rio thinking it would just be a quick trip."

"Oh no no no, you misunderstand me," Tulio dismissed with a wave of his hands ,"Blu will not be coming."

"What!?" the three of them all cried.

"Blu will be staying here," Tulio reiterated, "there is always a risk with transporting animals, and I would rather not take unnecessary risks with these precious creatures."

"If travelling is a risk," Linda questioned ,"then why are we sending Jewel on an intercontinental flight?"

"Well," Tulio replied ,"there are always unseen risks with any injury, such as infection or bad healing. By sending Jewel to the best vet in the world, we minimise these risks. Plus we have to remember that if she stays in Rio, there's always a chance that she could be kidnaped by smugglers again. I've done all the risk assessment calculations."

Tulio reached into his pocket and clumsily unfolded a huge A3 sheet of paper, covered in incomprehensible equations smattered over the page like polka dots. Blu squinted at the paper trying to make sense of the unlabeled numbers and scribbled notes but it was just mathematical white noise.

"Is this risk assessment proven to be better than your last risk assessment," Linda said ,"you know, the one where both of two surviving Blue Spix Macaws were captured, caged and almost killed."

Jewel Flinched backwards at those words, her wing catching painfully against a pot of pens that was on the counter top. How had she managed to knock into the one thing on the massive exposed surface of the countertop?

"Yes," Tulio replied in full confidence.

"Well alright," Linda gave in ,"I guess you are the bird expert."

Linda then stepped forward and grabbed Tulio's collar, pulling his face close to her's, their glasses making an awful grating sound as they scraped together

"If anything happens to my bird because of this," She scowled ,"I'll make sure you pay more than just compensation money."

She let go of Tulio's collar and stepped back adjusting her glasses. The Ornithologist stood dazedly for a few seconds before fainting, tumbling backwards onto the sofa.

Linda turned to Blu "was that too much?" she asked feeling slightly guilty

Both Blu and Jewel nodded profusely.