The sun was raising on antoher day. Mina suddenly woke up with a strange feeling.
"Guys, wake up," Mina called her big brothers.
"Huh? What's up, Mina?" Martin asked, a bit groggily.
"I'm feeling something. Something weird."
The Kratt brothers follwed Mina until she stopped in front… of a white vortex?
"What's that?"
"I don't know, but that's the source of this strange energy that woke me up," Mina assured. As she approached the vortex, it started to suck her in. The Kratt Brothers gasped, and tried helping, but Mina ended up falling into the vortex.
"Uh-oh… Tortuga!" Chris called. "We got an emergency!"
Mina woke up in an apparently desert place. There were ruins all around her.
"H-hello?" She called, a little scared. "Martin? Chris? Anyone?"
She gasped once she saw something moving behind her. Then, as it came close, she saw… it was a deer-like creature… with a canine muzzle?
"Wow… I never saw a creature like this," Mina said. She giggled as the creature licked her face.
"Because they don't exist in your timeline," a voice called her attention. She looked back to see… a teen girl, with a gray dress and braided hair. "Hello. I'm Elsa."
"Oh… hi. I'm..."
"Mina," Elsa said. "I know who you are, and about the Nature Guardians. Me and my brother are actually from where you came from."
"Huh?"
Suddenly, they heard something else moving. The noise scared the deer-like creature away. "I'll explain everything later. For now, let's go!" She grabbed Mina's hand and started to run.
"According to the readings, this is… a temporal vortex," Aviva said.
"And I thought that since the Time Trampoline broke, we wouldn't have to lead with things like this," Koki said.
"Temporal vortex? Like… a time portal?" Chris asked.
"You think Mina's stuck in the past? Or futurte?" Martin gulped.
"Hm… I don't know for sure. But what I do know is that we need to go after her," Aviva said. "I'll get the Time Trampoline, and use its energy field to maintain the portal open. This way, even the Tortuga will be able to get there."
"I'll start the engines," Jimmy said.
"We may be safe here for now," Elsa said, as they reached a small fortress. She nkocked a secret code on the door, and someone opened it.
"Sister… thank goodness you're here." A young teenage boy embraced her.
"Ventus?" Mina sked herself.
"Mina, this is my brother and the Neo-Human Resistance leader, David Genosharp."
"Oh..."
"Mina?"
"Yes, bro. It's her. The Guardians' protector from our timeline," Elsa said. "She ended up here through an Anomaly."
"Okay, I'm really confused. How do you guys know about me?" Mina asked. "And what's an Anomaly?"
"Get in, darling. I'll tell you everything you'll need to know," David told her, as four other silhouettes observed them. Suddenly, one of them looked to the horizon.
"Something else appeared," he said. Then, he left to look for whatever appeared. But he didn't noticed that someone was watching him as well, from a monitoring room.
"Lassen Sie die Armee," the woman that was observing told someone close to her.
The Tortuga landed on the devastaded place.
"Wow… is this… the future?" Chris gasped.
"No… it can't be..." Martin gulped.
"Only hope it's not." Aviva held the brothers' arms afraid. Koki and Jimmy shivered while embracing.
Suddenly, they saw many shadows moving around them. "What are those things?" Chris summoned his bow, and the other Guardians summoned their weapons as well.
The Guardians gasped as they saw the creatures: they were all a mix-up of creature features. One of them charged agaisnt Martin, but a silhouette charged against the monster, sending it away, and scaring the other creatures.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Um… yeah. Thanks," Martin gulped.
"What were those things? And who are you?" Chris asked.
"Predators." He removed his hood. "And I'm Samuel Jawclaw… Earth Guardian of this destroyed world." He was a little taller than Martin, and had short, blond hair. He appeared to have a shark tail. His eyes were green and his clothes were brown. On his shirt was a small circle that symbolized the Guardians' elements. He showed a glowing gem on his forehead.
"Huh? You're… an Earth Guardian?" Chris asked. "And what about… this Guardian Shield on your chest?"
"I'll tell everything once we reach the fortress, Wild Kratts," he said, surprising the team. "Yes. I know who you are, thanks to our leader. Come on."
Once in the fortress, the crew happily reunited with Mina and met David and Elsa.
"Okay, now that we're all here, can someone explains me wehat's going on around this place?" Chris asked.
David sighed. "Well, this place actually is an alternate universe: the Earth after an apocalypse.
"The curiosity of genetic engineering made a turn for the worse, thanks to a rogue scientist, Amelia Cutter.
"She created an army of monsters to serve her, and traveled back time to retrieve a powerful weapon: the Crossbow of Pallas.
"Once having it, Amelia started to lead her army of predators, and ended up defeating the Nature Guardians of an earlier timeline, stealing the Elemental Gems and the Elemental Crystals as well.
"However, that's when everything was over. As she gave these jewels to scientists, and they abuse of its power for bad intuitions, their corruption caused a meltdown around the world.
"Luckily, a few groups of people survived this apocalypse, but were mutated. These were called Neo-humans, human hybrids with creature DNA in them. Some of these mutants had small fragments of the Elemental Gems embedded in them at birth.
"Like Sam," Chris said. "Can I call you that way?" he asked the Neo-Human, that smiled and nodded in response.
"But a certain group of then rebelled against their own leader, and vowed to rule this world. They named themselves Orlocks, and eventually joined Amelia Cutter.
"There are still a few of good Neo-humans... our Resistance. We fight this new generation of Orlocks in name of Mother Nature. Their leader... me, David Genosharp. Adopted son of Hermia… from your timeline."
The Wild Kratts were astonished.
"But how did you end up here?"
"Through that Anomaly you found," David said. "It was the day when we met Amelia for the first time. She succeeded in taking away the Crossbow, and we ended up getting stuck in this universe. Me and my little sister Elsa miss our mother so much. During approximately four years, we tried returning home, but we would need the Crossbow of Pallas for it."
"Well, back in our timeline, I made a Time Trampoline, and I'm currently using it to maintain this… Anomaly open."
"Really?"
"You helped us with our little sister. It's only fair that we help you reuniting with Hermia as well," Koki said.
Suddenly, they heard a shriek from outside. "Elsa?" David gasped, recognizng that scream.
Once out of the fortress, they saw one of the predators taking Elsa away.
"Help! David!" the crew heard Elsa's distress call.
"No!" David gasped.
"What's this?" Chris picked up a small circular device with a button. Once he pressed it, an holographic image appeared.
"You!" David growled at the sight of his nemesis. "Amelia."
"Hello, Meine Freunde," she said.
"German and evil... why aren't I surprised?" Chris observed the woman: her dark blonde hair was dyed with black and white tiger stripes. Her eyes were violet, she wore a black dress that barely reached her knees. Her skin was a bit paler than his own. Her slippers were white with black zebra stripes. She also had on a lab coat with cheetah spots.
"Cliché alert!" Martin said.
"What have you done with Elsa, you witch?!" David demanded with rage in his eyes.
"Oh, she will be alright... if you hand yourselves to me," she said. "See you at Red Square, or should I say, Green Square," she said with chuckling, as the device turned off.
"We gotta go after her," Sam said. "Amelia also have my cousins there. Who knows what she's doing with them now?"
"Don't worry, David and Sam. We'll help you free Elsa and Sam's cousins, and get Amelia," Martin assured. "Like Koki said, it's the least we could do."
"Okay, then. Let's go." David led the way.
The crew looked from behind some bushes, and saw a building, twice as big as David's fortress.
"There it is. Red Square," David pointed out. "Amelia's laboratory and main fortress."
"Wow… looks like it's pretty reinforced." Chris pointed to the guards. "We would need to distract them."
"Not anymore," Mina pointed out to something distracting the guards, flying around them. It was… a mutated creature?
"That's Cassandra, Elsa's pet fruit bat," David recognized the little pet. "She's been mutated by Amelia, but Elsa and I saved her, along with other critters."
"Like that deer with a canine muzzle?" Mina asked.
"You saw Comet?" David asked.
"You name creatures too?" Martin asked.
"Uh, guys, geek out later," Aviva said. "Now that the guards are no longer on the front door, we can get in."
"Mina… please stay here, and protect Sam and his… friends," Martin asked her. "If we need help, we'll call you."
"Okay..." Mina nodded.
"And my "friends" here are actually my brothers and sister." Sam pointed out. They removed their hoods, revealing shards on their foreheads, just like Sam's.
"Current Guardians?"
"Yup," Sam comfirmed Koki's doubt.
"So let's go. There's not time to lose." David led the crew.
Hermia gasped as she received a letter by Mina.
"What happened, Hermia?"
"My son David… the Guardians found him," Hermia said, with a smile.
"Huh? I have another brother?" Ventus asked. He looked a little taller than the last time the Wild Kratts saw him. His voice seemed to deepen a bit too.
"I adopted David a while after his parents were taken away by a dragon." Hermia admitted. "After we saw a strange woman stealing the Crossbow of Pallas, he followed her and ended up stuck in a strange place. Where? I didn't know."
"Well, if the Wild Kratts found him, probably they found this weird place too," Ventus pointed out.
Elsa woke up tied to some kind of table. "Whoa… where am I?"
"Wilkommen, little time nymph," she heard Amelia's voice. "Well, I'll tell you how things work: you tell me how to absorb your brother's powers, or else, I'll take yours."
"No way. You know that I won't ever let you control my big brother's mind, you psycho!" Elsa answered.
The Wild Kratts were close to the room where Elsa was, and they were sure of it from hearing her voice.
"There! In the laboratory!" Sam pointed out. "You guys go ahead. I'll check on my cousins. I heard their voices not far from here."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry, David… I'll reach you later. Promise." He ran to another place, leaving the crew beihnd. The Guardins prepared their weapons, and David pulled out a katana.
"Ooh… nice katana," Chris said.
"Thanks. Had since I started training with mom," David said.
"Well, I guess Mina might be helpful around here now." Martin said, seeing the door was locked with some kind of special lock.
"Why are you nymphs always so stubborn?" Amelia complained, preparing to absorb her power. Suddenly, something bashed against the metal door. "Was?" she asked.
The crew, plus Mina, stormed into the room. "Let go of my sister, Amelia!" David yelled, pointing his katana at her.
"Well well, the brat of Hermia and his overgrown fish friend, and... who are they?" She pointed to the team.
"The ones who are about to kick your sorry patootie," Koki said.
"Wow, nice one, Koki," Martin complimented.
"Orlocks! Get them!" Amelia pressed a button, calling for her army.
Mina, who started feeling the same she did before, entered the room. Then, she noticed something glowing on Amelia's neck.
"A crystal! That's what I was feeling early this morning: the presence of one of the crystals!" she concluded.
"Here, we call them Elemental Crystals," David explained. "But... I don't think it's one of those."
"How can you be sure?" Mina said. "I'm feeling the same sensation from when I held the Gaia Scepter for the first time. Surely it is one of its crystals."
"Uh, still strapped to a table here!" Elsa interrupted.
"Sorry," Mina and David said, rushing to free her. The Wild Kratts attacked the Orlocks with all their might. Once Elsa was free, she concentrated a little, and soon… she was standing close to Amelia.
"A-ha!" She grabbed the Crossbow. "I got it, bro!"
"How did she..."
"She's a time nymph. Very uncommon kind. Able to teleport and freeze things around her sometimes," David explained. "Nice work, Elsa."
"Neine!" Amelia gasped. Then, she tried attacking Elsa, but she teleported.
"Quick, let's get out of here!" they heard Sam's voice and rushed to meet him. "My cousins went to meet my brothers. They're doing fine."
They all ran as the Red Square started to tremble. "What's going on?" Chris asked.
"Possibly self-destruction," David said. "Typical for Amelia."
"Let's see..." Elsa mumbled, as they went out of the building. "3... 2... 1." The lab blew up in plumes of smoke and crimson.
Then, they saw Amelia riding an Orlock. "Come on!" David said. "Lead the way, and let's get out of here!"
In a short while the team saw the Tortuga HQ and the portal still opened… for now.
"Rapido! To the portal! The Time Trampoline can only hold it open for a little longer," Aviva said, seeing the connection tremble.
Meanwhile, close to the portal, there was Ventus, Hermia and Luna. The Tortuga came out of the Anomaly quickly, with Amelia and Sam holding firmly on it.
"Ugh… okay, offically, this is the worst landing I've ever made," Jimmy commented, once the crew came out of it.
"Mom?" Elsa saw Hermia, and so did David. "Mom!"
"David! Elsa!" Hermai rushed to embrace them. "Oh, my dearest children."
David then looked at Ventus. "Mom… am I looking in a mirror?"
"I was going to say the same thing," the apprentice in white said.
"Uh, Ventus… is it just me or did you grow up a little?" Chris observed.
"It's an energy thing, I guess," Luna said. "Never happened before to any other Guardian."
Then, their chat were interrupted by a voice and a growl. "Sorry to interrupt souch a warm reunion, but I guess you forgot one thing," Amelia sarcastically said.
"You!" Hermia said. "The thief of the Crossbow of Pallas."
"Here it is, mom," Elsa said.
Sam tried knocking Amelia off, but she put her two last predators to attack him. "You made me lose my army, but let's see how you lead with my two best krieger!" Mina, seeing the opportunity, pushed her to the ground, and grabbed the Crystal.
"We have one of my scepter's crystals!" Mina cheered.
"Villains..." Jimmy said. "No matter the universe, they have the same vangloriating attitude."
"Cliché alert!" Martin said.
Amelia saw the Guardians preparing to attack, and mounted her Orlock. "You won this battle, but the war's just beginning!" she swore. "Ich komme wieder!"
"And I'll catch you next time!" David replied, "That's a promise!"
"You can count on us for this," Martin said.
When Amelia was far away, she growled. "Those Wild Kratts runied my brilliant plans! The only thing good about creatures of this timeline is that they're great test subjects. Perhaps if I find a way of getting the maximum I can of them, I can form a brand new army and retrieve the Crossbow again… then, after annihilating these Nature Guardians, I'll return to the future and rule as supreme leader!"
Something glowing caught her eye. It was small and white, and shiny. "Hmm, what is this?" She picked it up between two of her fingers. "Huh?" She saw it glow in her hand, and two silhouettes came to her.
"Awaiting your orders, mein master," one of them said.
She smirked, now having the perfect thing for her plans.
"Downloading info about Sam's apocalyptic timeline," Elsa said. "We might need it since Amelia and Sam are stuck here."
"Sorry, Sam. We didn't meant to leave you here," Chris said.
"It's okay, Chris. As sure as I am that Amelia will be arrested, I'm sure someday I'll return home or find my place here," Sam said. "Speaking of place, I might as well see what the past has to offer."
"You mean our timeline," Mina said. "But wait… aren't you staying?"
"I have a whole new world to explore now. I wanna see where my feet can take me, until I can return home," Sam said, sure of his words.
"Well, just… take care," David said, before Sam nodded and left.
"I'm happy Hermia let you guys stay," Martin reminded David and Elsa. "I was wondering if you would help me with my sword fighting."
"No problem." David winked at him.
"New members, a new villain… and a portal to another world?" Bite-Size, heard every word Koki said. "Wow, wish I haven't slept all day. And what should we do with the crystal?"
"Let's keep it for now, and once we have all of them, let's ask for Hephaestus to place them again in the scepter," Mina said. "And David, why is this one not one of them exactly?" She held up the shard on the string.
"I just felt that, believe it or not," David said.
"I know why," Luna said. "This crystal belonged to the lost Time Gem."
"Time Gem? Does that mean... there's a seventh Element?" Chris asked in shock.
"Yes. And a virtue representing it: Patience," Luna confirmed. "And David, we're assigning you as its possessor." That really surprised him.
"Me?" the teen said, pointing at himself in disbelief.
"I believe in you, David," Hermia assured him. She handed him the recovered crossbow. "And I believe you will need this."
"The Crossbow of Pallas to me? Mom... I can't accept this."
"I know you'll use it for what's right. I trust you."
"He's a Guardian now?" Martin asked. "Guess he'll need a medallion then."
The crew chuckled, as the Tortuga started flying off the forest.
