DISCLAIMER- I DO NOT OWN WILD KRATTS

This story has NO relation to my Wild Kratts Original series (that's what it's called). I can't say much about it without giving anything away, but I can says what it features. Laysan Albatross, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and being stuck in Albatross powers. Oh I would say more, but I really don't want to give anything away. Btw, sorry if I get any facts wrong, I base all of my facts in my stories off of what I find on the internet, I've never actually been to see the Albatross, I've never actually had plastic poisoning, and I've never actually experienced anything I write about in this story, so sorry if anything is wrong. Don't blame me, blame the internet! Also, this takes place on Laysan Island. I can't find anything of people living on the island, but if there are, let's just pretend they all died and don't live there anymore, kay? Kay. :3

Enjoyiez!

Wild Kratts- Birds of the Gyre

Chapter 1- Sea Glider

"You sure you want to do this, bro?" A tall, blonde man wearing a blue sweater asked a tad shorter, browned haired man wearing a green sweater.

"Yes. The birds are dying, and I want to find out why." The man in the green sweater answered. He could see how worried his brother was though. "Don't worry, Martin. I'll be fine." He added to his brother, Martin.

"I know, but I am." Martin replied.

"Look. I'm just going to go out for a few days and just do a quick study and see if I can figure out why the birds are dying. Then you and the crew will just stay here on the Tortuga to make sure that the villains don't strike any of the other creatures during that time."

"I know, I know. I just don't want anything to happen to you, Chris. I'm the older brother and I'm supposed to keep you safe."

"Martin, it's not like I've never gone out on missions on my own before." Chris replied.

"But never for two days."

"I'll be fine." Chris assured Martin.

"Alright. I guess you will be okay... Heh, I know you. I should know that too."

"I'm going to collect my supplies, then head off."

"Okay." Martin said as Chris walked out the bedroom door.

For almost a week, he'd been planning on doing this special mission. He was going to head out on his own to an island in the Pacific Ocean uninhabited by humans, Laysan Island. Instead, it was inhabited by birds. The Laysan Albatross to be exact. Chris had heard a few rumors about these birds and where they lived. The seas were full of trash, mainly plastic based products. There was a supposedly "island" made of garbage in the north pacific gyre. He was interested by this, and wanted to see for himself if it was true. He had heard that the birds were, by accident, eating the garbage and slowly dying from plastic poisoning. He just had to do a study on this.

But Chris also knew that Gourmand has been up to something for quite some time lately. He'd been traveling to different continents and stealing animals. They had been able to stop Gourmand these few times, but they were sure that he wasn't done. But Chris was really interested in doing this study. Besides, he knew his brother could handle things for a little while. He'd only be gone fore two days anyway. He'd go out that evening, stay a full day there, then he'd meet up with the crew again the next day.

Chris walked out to the main room. He slipped on his creature power suit and grabbed a backpack and started to shove items, like food and a tarp, into it.

"Oh, hey Chris," A hispanic girl in a yellow coat said.

"Hey Aviva." Chris replied.

"Oh, and here." She held up a dark blue disc with the image of a bird on it. "Albatross powers. I just finished the disc."

"Thanks." Chris took the disc and put it into the slot in his CPS.

"We're almost to the island, by the way."

"Okay."

"And i'm sure Martin's had the 'don't go' talk with you."

"Yep. Typical Martin." Chris laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Ha, yeah." Aviva agreed.

"Aviva, we're here!" They heard a voice calling to them. It was the red headed gamer and Tortuga pilot.

"Thanks, Jimmy!" Aviva called back. "Looks like that's for you." She said, turning back to Chris.

"K." He replied as he went down to the basement where his mode of transportation was.

"Don't forget this." Aviva said handing a green creature pod to Chris.

"Thanks. See ya in two days."

"See ya."

Chris climbed down to the basement, backpack around his shoulders and his CPS on. He was ready to go. As he sat down on the blue motorcycle type thing, a hover cycle, he swung his backpack around so he could double check he had his journal and pen. Yep. He was fully ready now. He strapped on his helmet and started up the engine. The door in front of him opened as if on cue. The bike lifted up into the air and Chris rode it out the opened door.

Below him, he could see a landmass. It was a large, oval-ish shaped island with a huge lake in the center of it. The place was a large beach, sand and dirt, with large patches of grass all over it. In some spots were short trees. Down below were many white feathered birds with black or dark gray wings. They had long yellowish gray beaks that curved down at the tip. The beak tips were also dark gray like the wings. They had night black eyes with black smudges around the eyes, making them look bigger than they actually were. They had webbed feet with three toes on each foot. They stood about 140 centimeters high, and the ones circling the air over the island and ocean had wing spans of nearly 3 meters long! They were the largest seabirds.

He landed the cycle and hopped off. Almost immediately a fairly large Albatross waddled over towards him, curious. "Hello, there." Chris said, kneeling down. He was almost nose to beak with the bird. "How are you?" He asked. "Want to help me activate my power suit? I'm here to learn more about you guys." He said as he reached out slowly towards the bird as to not turn it off. He gently brushed his finger over the bird's head then he pressed the large center button on his vest. He then became engulfed in a bright green light. Seconds later, as the light vanished, he was presented as half Albatross, half human.

Of course all of his feathers were a shade of green. He had the beak of an Albatross, and the wings and tail of one. The body and legs and feet even. In fact, really the only "human" looking part of him were his eyes and his hair. But even the mask over his eyes gave them a shadowed look to them, more like the Albatrosses'.

The Albatross who was with Chris obviously got frightened for he took off towards the sky. He lifted up into the air with little effort. His flying looked more like gliding as the winds carried him. His flight was also as effortlessly. He had his wings stretched out far to his sides. And despite how far they were stretched out, they still slightly pointed backwards and curved downwards just a little bit. He rode the winds just as easily as a person could walk.

As he watched the bird in his amazing flight, he remembered some of the tales he heard. That they were souls of dead sailors, or that they were the spirits that brought the wind. Watching these birds spectacular flying, he was beginning to see why people would think this. He found himself too occupied with watching the birds, that he forgot he was in an Albatross suit and that he could fly like that, too.

Finally he came back to reality and he realized this. "Oh!" He said as he stretched out his wings. "Wait up!" He called after the bird. He took off into the sky after his Albatross friend. "Hmm. Martin's not here..." Chris was mumbling to himself. "... So I guess I should name you." He though of a good name as he watched the bird glide the winds. "How about... Oh, I know! How about Sea Glider?" Chris asked the bird, even though he knew he wouldn't answer him. The bird couldn't understand him, and Chris couldn't understand the bird. So he decided that Sea Glider was a good name for him. "Wait up, Sea Glider!" Chris called after his bird friend as he flew after him.

Chris watched as Sea Glider started to slow down, pumping his wings more, staying more in one spot. He was curious as to what Sea Glider was up too. He then saw as the bird lowered a bit in the sky, pulled it's wings close to it's body, yet still out to keep balance, then dove down, beak first towards the ocean at nearly 25 mph. They could reach up to speeds of 40 mph. Sea Glider vanished under the surf of the ocean, and moments later, he resurfaced with a fish in his beak. He floated on the water, like a duck in a pond, as he enjoyed his fish. "Gotta try it." Chris said as he imitated Sea Glider best he could.

He hovered, almost, as he eyed his target. He noticed how well the eyesight on the suit was. Also the nose was quite strong. Looking down at the water, he noticed among all the waves, a floating object. Bringing his wings in, but still a bit out, he let himself fall towards the water. His eyes burned a bit as the cold salty air hit them, but not as much as it would, because of the more birdlike eye shape. As he neared the water, he opened his beak slightly. Breaking through the water, he would have choked on it, but his tongue shape, due to the suit as well, made it so water didn't suffocate him to death.

Moments before the object went into his beak, he realized it wasn't an animal of prey, but an old, sea worn, cigarette lighter. He'd barely but a second to react. Too late. The yellow, plastic object slipped into his beak. Chris jerked as the thing slipped halfway into his throat. "Ack!" He cried as he choked on the object, but his mind was more focused on not letting him drown. He paddled to the surface, in a rather clumsy fashion as he freaked as the object hurt his throat and mouth. He finally broke through the surface, riding the waves like he witnessed Sea Glider doing, as he tried to cough up the torturous plastic.

It was much more of a task now, considering he didn't have use of hands. He was choking, and he couldn't do anything about it! He gagged in an attempt to get rid of it, and also used his tongue to try to shove it up, but that wasn't working. Instead, he was just shoving it down. He then winced in pain as he felt the awful plastic object slip down his throat. He gagged and moaned, then went into a short coughing fit. "Wha... What the heck?!" He finally cried. There was a pain in his esophagus and stomach, but he chose to ignore it best he could. "Why is there a freaking cigarette lighter out in the middle of the ocean?! There's not even a single person living on this island." He exclaimed as he turned his head towards the island and studied it. "I'll end up sick, I know it." He murmured to himself. "But seriously. How did a lighter get all the way out here?" He said as he winced again from pain.

He was thinking back to the stories he'd heard about Garbage Island. Plastic Paradise. What ever they called it. He remembered reading up on a bit before he came here. It was supposedly the size of Texas, but very dispersed, not all in one area. This was a place of legend, out in the middle of the ocean. He wondered if he was right on the edge of this place. Despite what people think of it, it's actually not an island; at least not like one you can walk right out onto. Instead, it's very dispersed, and floating all over the water. And even though there are large pieces of it like toothbrushes, soda bottles, old cigarette lighters, it's made up of mostly tiny pieces of easy-to-swallow plastic pieces. Plastic doesn't biodegrade, it photodegrades. That means that weather and such won't break it down, like leaves and such do. No, instead the sun breaks it all down. Plastic is made from little plastic pellets, called plastic nurdles (insert laughter here). The nurdles are the virgin material that all plastic is made from. They are melted down and then crafted into plastic objects. When the objects sit outside, the sun melts these nurdles back into their original form, breaking the plastic up into tinier and tinier pieces. But it doesn't stop there. Once they reach the nurdle size, they will keep breaking down to even smaller pieces called microplastics. The krill and plankton will eat these, while the larger animals are eating the larger plastic products and the plastic nurdles and broken down pieces. And then if an animal eats another animal that has eaten plastic, then the plastic will transfer into them.

Chris lifted out of the water, accompanied by Sea Glider. He flew towards the land, angry with humans for the moment. "Sea Glider, has this ever happened to you before?" Chris asked his Albatross friend. Looking back in front of him, he realized he was about to crash into the land. "Ahh!" He exclaimed as he flew his feet out right in front of him, preparing for landing. Rough landing. He stumbled, tripping over his webbed feet. He fell over onto his front, his head crashing down to the ground and his wings furled out to either side. Turning his head slightly to the right, he gave out a small chirp of shock. There, laying right beside him, was a large, fluffy, dark feathered chick. But... the chick was... dead. And it was already decomposing.

Chris leaped to his feet and stared in horror at the young bird. It hadn't died from natural causes. No, not at all. Staring at the rotting body of the baby, he could see lots of plastic products. Water bottle caps, tangled up fishing line, even childrens' toys. The chick had died... from plastic poisoning, obviously. He looked around and noticed all the other chicks, all looking somewhat like this dead one. They were all just around the age that their parents leave them so they both can go hunting. They'd start flying very soon.

But these chicks were being poisoned. Not on purpose though. Their parents would go hunting, and when they'd bring back food, they'd also bring back plastic that they'd accidentally swallowed like Chris had. And then when they yarped up the prey they brought back for their chicks, they'd also yarp up the plastic they'd swallowed, then feeding it to their chicks. The chicks, having more fragile digested systems, would absorb the toxins from the plastic faster, and die at an early age. He looked around and noticed two adult birds, also dead. The plastic was killing them!

Cliffie, anyone? Hey I hoped you like my first chappie. Again, this has like no relation to my Wild Kratts Original Series. This is it's own story. Oh and I don't think ima have any Caviva in it, if it seems like it (more in the last few chapters), then it's actually just the concern of a crew member.
Okay, there once was a headcanon I read by Zumidotexe (Zumi), where Chris is a picky eater, yet he likes the taste of garbage. Of course I lawled at this. I'm a picky eater (like seriously, very picky. Me and my friend one time were in an argument on who was more of a picky eater XD). But liking the taste of garbage? Too hilarious to not agree with! I mean, c'mon, I actually made a video (before I read the headcanon) about Chris liking the taste of garbage! But this isn't what inspired the idea for the story, nah, but funny to think about when you're reading (laugh. Laugh while Chris suffers! MWHAHAHAHA!). Ehem. Actually, this was inspired by Carlosedu1's story, To the Creature Rescue. Reading it was the first time I'd heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I became interested with it, and living off of the pacific coast only provoked this interest even more. So I went and did a lot (a LOT) of research on it, and I became even more interested in the Albatross birds, dying of plastic poisoning. And so I decided to write this story. I hope to have long chapters for it, and a lot of chapters for it. There's (probably) only gonna be only one story under this title, so I want it to be longer than the rest of my stories.

Oh, and I still am writing on my WK Original Series, I just had this idea and I really wanted to write about it. I'll probably continue on this, next story for WKOS will be out soon. I'm still trying to come up with a more detailed plot line for it. All I have now is when Chris goes crazy and murderous XD. Oh, Crissy the Killer, y chu fun 2 write bout? XD

Anyhow, I hope chu likey it. Next chapter will be out soon

Remember... R&R!

TBC...

~DawnFire