Welp, let me explain why I made this. Martin's birthday's in 2 days and this story is honored to him.
At 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, Chris, Aviva, Koki, Jimmy, and Cheyenne were fast asleep, exhausted after trying to stop Gourmand from making a meal out of golden eagle legs, while Martin on the other hand…
"Come on, guys, wake up!" Martin whispered to himself. He looked at the calendar, which said December 23.
Martin isn't usually that impatient, but something about this day was really special to him. So, he sat on Koki's station, ready to tear his face off, but he took a deep breath and headed back to his hammock.
"I'll just suck it up for 5 more hours and then they'll wake up." Martin thought before trying to fall asleep, until his Creaturepod vibrated. He facepalmed when he saw it was Zach and hesitantly picked up the call.
"Oh, it's your special day, huh?" Zach said.
"Yeah! And besides, how'd you I was…" Martin paused when he saw a Zachbot on the sunroof, which slowly backed away with wide and sheepish eyes for not picking a better hiding place.
"Umm… forget it! By the way, wouldn't it be nice if…"
"NO."
"…something was to happen?"
"NO. It's bad enough you almost ruined Aviva's." Martin said, glaring and pointing at him. "Mess this up and I'll see it as an open invitation to… to, umm… to do something!"
"Pfft… I'd like to see you try, Blue Guy. Hey, that rhymed!" Zach said before hanging up.
Martin rolled his eyes before silencing his Creaturepod and sitting on his hammock. "I bet Zach wouldn't mess this up. He's probably just messing with me. Besides, how low can he ge…" Martin's pupils shrank when he thought of the time Zach tried to drown him and Chris, lured them into a deadly arctic storm, tried to steal Gavin's trophy, threatened some of the Wild Kratts kids, and many other events. Sure, Martin doesn't hold grudges, but it was disturbing to think about those times.
"Oh, boy…"
"*groan* Martin?" Cheyenne said, sitting beside him.
"Hmm?" Martin said, raising an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?" Cheyenne asked, scooting closer to him, worried.
"It's just Zach. You know, Cheyenne, he once tried to ruin Aviva's birthday by kidnapping animals with her party balloons!"
"Is he going to ruin your birthday too?" Cheyenne asked.
"I don't think… Ah, who am I kidding? It's guaranteed he's gonna do it."
"Martin, I wouldn't let him hurt you." Cheyenne said, placing a hand on his arm.
"Thanks, Cheyenne. I feel so much better now." Martin said, kissing the side of her head.
"Happy birthday." Cheyenne said before falling asleep.
Martin smiled and carried her to her own hammock before going back to his own. "Sweet dreams."
At 8:00 a.m., Chris was the first one to wake up when his alarm rang.
"Happy b-day, bro." Chris said softly to Martin, who was sleeping soundly. "I told you not to stay up late!"
"Maybe he just couldn't help it." Aviva said, rubbing her eyes with her fists. "I would do the exact same thing if I were him."
"Would you?" Koki said, laughing. "Believe me, that guy has more energy than the Tortuga can ever get!"
"Probably more than all of us combined." Jimmy said, holding his controller.
Cheyenne giggled. "You guys are funny!"
Chris laughed. "Yeah, we get that a lot."
"Okay, since everybody's up except Martin, here's what we need to do. Koki, Jimmy, Cheyenne and I will make the party. Chris, make sure Martin stays away from the Tortuga. Whatever you need, Jimmy will teleport them to you, just make sure he stays away."
"We're on it!" Koki said.
"You can count on us!" Jimmy said, pointing his thumb to himself.
"Thanks guys!" Chris said, hugging them all very tight.
"*gags* Okay! You're welcome! Just let us go before we all spend his birthday at the hospital getting new ribs!" Koki said with her pupils shrunken like Aviva's, Jimmy's and Cheyenne's.
"Sorry…" Chris said before putting letting them go. "Hey Martin, wake up!" Chris said, shaking him while the others were catching their breaths.
Martin grumbled, pushing his hands away. "Just a few more hours…"
Jimmy ran over to them and started to whisper in Martin's ear. "Martiiinnnn… You slept over your birthday…"
"WHAT?!" Martin yelled before falling out of his hammock with a girlish scream.
"KARMA, BABY!" Jimmy yelled, pumping a fist in the air.
"NOT COOL, JZ. NOT. COOL." Martin said, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.
Jimmy shrugged.
"Jimmy, don't be mean to Martin. It's his birthday." Cheyenne said.
"It's payback!" Jimmy whined, crossing his arms.
"You know, now that it's winter, I was thinking of studying the ways of the red fox, Vulpes Vulpes." Martin said, pulling up a video of a realistic red fox leaping in short, high arcs in the snow."Or the sunset moth, Chrysiridia rhipheus." Martin said.
"What? You once taught us about scientific names, but what?!" Jimmy said, as confused as Cheyenne.
Martin laughed. "You do pick up a thing or two with a brother who studied Latin in college."
The crew members, except Chris started whispering to each other in awe as Martin pulled up a picture of a sunset moth.
"Magnífico…"
"Would you look at that…"
"It's so pretty…"
"Wow…"
"The sunset moth is one of the most beautiful animals in the world." Martin said, scrolling down to more pictures. "Some jewelry and coffee book makers make designs based on their wings and admired by collectors."
"I can see why…" Chris said, admiring the moths.
"I would want to make jewelry based on these moths…" Cheyenne said.
"Since, you all are pretty much dazed by the sunset moth, the sunset moth it is!" Martin said, pointing up to the sky. "Jimmy, set the course to Antonibe, Madagascar!"
Jimmy shook his head, getting his head out of the clouds and running to the cockpit. "On it!"
At Antonibe, Madagascar…
Chris and Martin came out of the Tortuga with backpacks and their Buzz bikes, observing the city.
"Hmm… maybe someone in this city might know where the sunset moths are." Martin said, looking around.
"True." Chris said.
Martin walked up to a woman, who looked at the Tortuga in awe. "Tsy mbola nahita zavatra toy izany… (I have never seen anything like it…)"
"Salama! (Hi!)" Martin said, extending his hand.
"Salama." The woman said in a dull tone, accepting the handshake.
"Efa nahita masoandro feno kisoa ve ianao? (Have you seen sunset moths?)"
"Eny. Any avaratrandrefan'ity tanàna ity izy ireo. Tsy dia maro ireo. (Yes. They are northwest of this city. There aren't many there.)" The woman said, pointing northwest.
"Misaotra anao indrindra. Veloma! (Thank you so much. Bye!)"
"Veloma! (Bye!)"
Martin walked back to Chris, who's jaw was dropped. "Since when did you speak Malagasy?!"
"Hey. If you wanna find creatures, you've gotta ask for help from foreign people. By the way, she said the sunset moths were northwest of this city, let's go!" Martin said, powering up his Buzz Bike and flying northwest.
"Martin, wait up!" Chris said, powering up his Buzz bike and setting off to follow him.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!
Harper: How come I'm not in the story?!
Whiterso: Because, I just don't want you to. I don't need you all the time. Now go, scram!
Harper: Well, that hurt. *walks off*