Prin: Hey, everyone! We'll be posting this story from now on due to some unexpected changes.

Iris: Anyway, WKSF1, thanks for writing with us! It's a real blast! XD Hope you don't mind that we edited and stuff on what we wrote together.

Prin: Anyway, R,R&R!

Iris: My line...and you have an extra R.

Prin: Nope. Read, Reflect, REVIEW! XD

Aviva walked around the Tortuga for the third time in a row.

Where is she?

She spotted Chris coming out of his room and waved to him, "Hey Chris!"
"Yeah Aviva!" he smiled at her.
"Have you seen Kate?" she hurried over to him, biting her lip.
"No, why?" the smile didn't falter.
"I can't find her anywhere."
"Is she with Martin?"
"No, I just called in, Martin's by himself watching the lion pride."
"Well, tell you what, you look around here one more time, I'll go outside and see if she's there," he patted her shoulder reassuringly

"Okay," she nodded, and walked off to continue another round of searching

Chris walked out of the Tortuga, not really worried for Kate. She knew how to take care of her self and to stick close to the Tortuga.
"Kate! Katherine! Where are you?"
After a moment, he heard her voice, which sounded weak.

"Over...here."

Chris stopped walking as he spun on his heel to the left.

"Where?" Chris said, frowning in slight confusion.

"Behind...the Tortuga," came the answer, and he followed it.

"Kate, your Mom, Aviva has been-KATHERINE!"

Chris ran to Kate, who was turned away from him. He picked her up, and cradled her in his arms, his eyes widening in shock.
She was bruised and beaten, her nose a bloody mess, and her eye had turned black.

"Kate, who did this?"

"I...I don't know," Kate replied, trying not to cry.

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I-I don't know who he was...He looked a little older than you, he had, I think, reddish-brown hair and brown eyes, and he just came up to me when I was playing...and...he..."

Kate's capability to handle pain and abuse had been spread and tested during her time with her abusive biological father, and now she had been reminded of her fragility and vulnerability yet again, only by a complete stranger this time. She couldn't hold it in any longer, and she tightened her grip on Chris' shirt and sobbed from her fear and trauma.

Chris's stomach dropped, meanwhile, since the man reminded him of someone he had known a long time ago.
But he needed to calm Kate down, she had been through a lot.
"Calm down Kate, it's going to be alright, okay?" Chris tightened his grasp on her, and he felt her nod against his chest as he stood up with her in his arms

He coddled her in his arms, gently wrapping an arm around her legs, and holding her close to him. She weakly rested her head on his shoulder, her brown hair slowly cascading over and covering his green-covered shoulder as he climbed up the ramp. She whimpered slightly against his neck, her hands grasping his shirt, drawing comfort from the brown haired man that had saved her life once already.

The first thing that had gone through Chris' mind when he had seen her was that Zach had come back, but Kate's description of the man was extremely different than the black haired, animal hating robotics inventor. It reminded him of someone that had caused him a lot of pain when he was younger.

As soon as he entered the Tortuga, Aviva flooded him with questions.

"What happened?!"

"Some guy came and attacked Kate."

Kate turned slightly, reaching out for Aviva, who had become her mother since she was rescued. The woman immediately took her from Chris, sitting the girl on one of the chairs.

"Koki! Could you get me the first aid kit?" Aviva gently touched her little girl's face, writhing inside. Who could have done this?! Kate's pale face was covered in reddish bruises that would soon be turning black and blue, and blood slowly trickled from her nose. A scrape on her forehead was bleeding, but Aviva wasn't as worried about that, since cuts on the forehead always bled profusely. It was the rest of Kate that she was worried about.

"Kate? Does your stomach hurt in any way?"

"Well...A little. He punched me first in the stomach, and then I fell down, cause it hurt a lot. But that wasn't the worst of it," Kate started feeling better and started talking more normally.

"What did he do to you, Kate?" Chris asked as he knelt to her level, worry written across his face

"Well, after he punched me he kicked my legs as hard as he could, he twisted my arm as hard as he could and hit my nose. He wrapped his hands around my neck and pressed down hard. And when I thought I'd faint, he let go and pushed me to the ground."

Chris nearly choked; he knew exactly who it was now.
He remembered when he was seven, a bully did the exact same to him, in the same order.

Martin had come to his rescue, and Chris never forgot the bully's name.

Eric.

Outside, the sound of Martin returning began to fill the Tortuga.

"Wow, Bro! You really should have seen-," Martin's voice cut off when he saw Kate sitting on the chair, her pink jacket contrasting against the orange of the floating chair, bruised and bloody, "Kate? Kate! What-What happened?"
He rushed over, kneeling next to the chair and gently cupping the little girl's face in his hand, almost afraid of hurting her, but wanting the see the extent of her wounds.

"Eric," Chris' quiet voice somehow seemed to fill the air around them charging it with even more tension and worry.

"E-Eric?" Martin turned to his brother in slight shock, seeing the younger man's confusion and lingering anger and shame from the past encounters with the bully.

"He..he did the exact same thing he did to me back then, to Kate now," anger began to fill his face, furrowing his brow. How could the coward do such a thing? Why pick on a little girl, when she was so much smaller than him? Weaker and unprotected? His fists clenched in anger and fury. No one messed with Kate; that was one thing that had fixated in his mind, ever since they saved her from Zach.

Kate sniffed.

"Who's Eric?"

"Eric, is a bully that hurt Chris when he was seven years old," Martin winced slightly, remembering what his brother had to go through.

"I remember when he did the same thing to me that he did to you, Kate. Good for me, Martin found out, and Eric eventually got what was coming to him," Chris told her quietly.

"Uh, Chris, can I talk to you in private for a minute?" Martin asked.

"Sure."

Chris and Martin went to their room. As Chris shut the door, Aviva's voice floated through, asking Kate a few more questions before the door closed.

"What is it Martin?"

"Well, I never told you this, but Eric...swore his revenge on me, and you, for getting him into trouble."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"You were still hurt, and I didn't want to worry you, but I think this is...him taking revenge."

"What happened Martin? Tell me everything that happened."

Chris sat in his green hammock, frowning slightly, while Martin sat in his blue one across the room, and he started telling the story.

"Well, I do remember that you were still at home recovering from the night before, and I was outside the principles office. Mom, Eric's mom, and Eric were inside. Then Eric came out."

"You did this!" he shrieked, lunging towards me with an unbridled anger in his eyes. I was afraid that he'd beat me up, but the teacher, his mom, and our mom, stopped him. Mom told me to wait in the car. So, I was leaning against the car, when Eric came out. He came towards me, and I had the urge to run. He growled, his face red from his anger and sweat, from the stress from having being found out and turned in, coating his forehead.

"I swear, Kratt, I'll get your brother one day, and I will make you regret this!"

"And with that, Eric went to his car, and I never saw him again."

"Until now."

Martin could tell Chris was still upset over Kate. Almost unsurprisingly, he assumed the role of father for Kate, acting quite a bit like Aviva in his doting over her.

Chris' eyes saddened, although they were tinted with anger.

"We have to keep him from doing something worse."

The blond older brother rested a hand on Chris' shoulder, "Bro, it's gonna be alright. I'll get Koki to update the defense and security system."

"Good idea."

The two of them walked back out, finding Aviva gently cleaning the blood off of Kate's face with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol.

"Ah...ow...Mom-ow..." Kate whined a little as the alcohol stung her cuts, the smell traveling up her nose and making her want to sneeze. Chris stood next to her, resting his hand on her brown head.

"Feeling any better?"

"A litt-ow..little better, yeah."

"Don't worry, Kate, we're gonna make sure this never happens again, okay?"

A couple days later, Kate played outside the Tortuga, still sore from the beating, but not letting it stop her from enjoying the day. She sang to herself as she ran around, following a mental path in her head, her olive green eyes shining as her brown hair swung in the air, the orange sunlight shining through it, lighting it up a coppery color. She continued on her mental path, a song playing in her head as she ran under the Tortuga.

"Morning has, da da daaa, like the first morning, Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird," she hummed the rest, not knowing the lyrics. Suddenly, as she neared one of the legs, she felt a chill run down her spine, the playful lighting suddenly feeling sinister and harsh, burning into her skin. A shadow fell over her, shielding her from the sun, and she turned, thinking it was Chris, only to find a much more sinister man.

Eric.

She gasped, and with a frightened cry, turned to run.

"Get back here!"

She could hear him running after her, and she ran into another leg of the Tortuga, and fell back, wincing at the pain from crashing into it.

Eric came up behind her, grinning evilly, and she felt herself cornered, and yet stared up at him bravely, trying not to show her fear.

Chris placed his Creature Power suit on it's rack, a sudden chill coming over him. Frowning, he turned, remembering finding Kate outside the other day...

"Hey, guys? I'm gonna go check on Kate, okay?"

Martin looked up at him, playfully pointing a finger at him, "'Kay, but if you're not back in twenty minutes, I'm coming out to get you."

Chris walked outside, chuckling at his brother's joke, until the sound of heavy breathing registered in his mind and he looked under the Tortuga to find Kate in a ball, like she was hiding.

"Kate, what are you doing? You know it's not safe under the Tortuga."

Kate was about to answer, but she saw another set of feet, which belonged to Eric, creeping up behind Chris.

"Chris! Look out!" Kate yelled pointed behind him.

Chris turn around, and his face met a hard hit from his long lost bully. With a slight grunt, he rubbed his jaw, and saw a man, about a year older than he was, with reddish brown hair that looked a lot like his, but he had bangs, and brown eyes that were about the same shade as his.

"Well, well. Hi Eric, I see you haven't changed much."

Chris had though. In fact, he was nearly the same height as Eric, only about an inch shorter. Eric just smirked.

"Didn't think you were going to see me any time soon, am I right?

Chris ignored the question, facing off with him,"Why are you hitting an innocent little girl? She has nothing to do with you!"

"Oh, she has a lot to do with me, Kratt."

As Chris and Eric argued, Kate inched her way to the other side of the Tortuga, only to find a mechanical hand grab her and cover her mouth before she could scream for help.

Martin, hearing the sound of shouting, walked out. His eyes widened when he saw Eric.

"Hey! Welcome to the Tortuga!" He called out cheerily as Chris gave him a weird look. He confidently walked down the ramp, "Long time no see."

He playfully clapped Eric's back, before his eyes narrowed and he stood next to Chris, crossing his arms.

"And we'd like to keep it that way. So leave."

Eric seemed enraged and was about to shout something at him, but he cut himself short as an unwelcome voice came from behind them.

"Hello," called out Zach's voice from behind them, sugar sweet and dripping with smugness and gloating.

Chris and Martin turned around and their eyes widened in shock as they saw Kate being held and gagged by a Zach-bot, inside the loading dock of the jet Zach was currently standing in.
Zach grabbed Kate's arm, digging his fingers in as she tried hard not to scream in fear.
"Now if you'll excuse me," Zach ran a hand over Kate's head, petting her like some little animal, "I have some catching up to do with my daughter."

He cackled as Eric ran into the jet with a mock salute, just as it closed and took off.

"See you losers later!"

Aviva ran out, nearly crashing into the brothers.

"What happened? It sounded like-" she cut herself off when she saw the black jet flying into the horizon, her mouth dropping open in horror as realization dawned on her.

"Zach took her!" Chris ran up the Tortuga ramp, with Martin not far behind.

"Koki! Could you track Zach's jet?" Martin called out as they ran in the door. The African-American nodded.

"Mmhm, on it!" her fingers flew over the keyboard, and a blinking red dot appeared on the large screen above.

Aviva walked into the Tortuga, anger etched in her face as Chris called for Jimmy to fly after Zach's jet.

There was no way Zach was getting away with this.

Prin: So, hi again! Bye now!

Iris: *facepalms* Please review...And we don't own WK...*mutters* Obviously. *walks out* See ya'll later!